How Sweet It Is
by SammmmanthaJ
Summary: AU, Troyella. Gabriella Montez is the new girl at East High, definitely hiding something, and Troy Bolton definitely wants to find out what it is.
1. Undiscovered

**[So, this is my first fanfic in the HSM-verse. Please be kind. Rated for themes, and who knows what else. R&R, I guess? (: **

**Disclaimer; I own nothing.**

She rubbed her eyes tiredly and flopped back down on her bed. She stared at the ceiling and did everything she could to _not_ think about tomorrow. Her first day at East High. She knew she was supposed to be excited and all that - her mother kept insisting it was going to be a "great new opportunity." She even promised not to move again until she graduated, obviously having no clue as to the effect this would have on her daughter. It wasn't that she liked moving, she just...liked having a fresh start all the time. No one asked lots of questions, no one knew too much about her, and no one felt bad for her.

She admitted to herself that she was bad at making friends. First, she didn't really have anything to really go on. She had never had any real friends before. Everyone always had so many questions for her, and she never felt comfortable enough to tell people answers. So, instead of getting to know them better so that she _would_ feel comfortable, she just isolated herself in every school, never making any friends, and never having anyone to really talk to.

She heaved a sigh and got out of bed and made her way to her bathroom. _So much for not thinking about it,_ she though wistfully. It was her junior year. The supposed "most important year of her high school career." All that college stuff was coming up... the mere subject made her nauseous. As she opened up her medicine cabinet and took out her daily pills, her mind strayed to the future. Would she even be able to go to college? She couldn't even handle summer camp last year. She had taken the pills out her first night and could barely sleep due to the whispers around her. The girls there actually thought she was a drug addict, with all the pills. They questioned and pestered her so much about it, and she never gave a decisive answer, that soon enough the entire camp was under the impression that she was heavily into drugs. She forced her mom to come get her not even 2 weeks into the 4 week long program. She tried to tell herself that if she lived with someone long enough, then she'd feel more comfortable about herself. She could have a real friend, someone who she could confide in, someone she could tell all about herself. But then the memories of summer camp came rushing back, and she realized that as much as she wished it weren't so, people were judgmental. People make generalizations the second they meet someone. _Story of my life,_ she thought bitterly.

She swallowed her pills and turned the lights out. She laid down on her bed, turned on soft music, and tried to tell herself that maybe tomorrow would be different. She knew she was lying to herself, and tried to force the unbidden tears to leave. She heard the door creak open and she looked up. Her mother.

"Sweetie, you're crying." She stated, in case her daughter had missed it.

"Can't help it, mom." She responded in a monotone.

"You nervous about tomorrow?" Her mom inched more into the room, clearly looking for a bonding chat.

"No, I just can't help the fact that I'm crying. That's all it is." She replied more forcefully than normal. Her mother knew exactly why her daughter was crying, and she chose to disregard it, pretend it wasn't there, pretend nothing was wrong. She realized that her mother had been talking to her the entire time as she lay there, zoned out. She sighed, loud enough to be noticed by her mom.

"Okay, well I'll just leave you to be then. I'll be gone for work before you leave for school, so...I hope you have a good day tomorrow. Feel free to call me when you're home..." Her voice trailed off as Maria Montez left the room.

With renewed belief that tomorrow was going to be just as bad as she expected, Gabriella Montez burrowed into her comforters, and let the tears come.

-------

When she woke up the next morning, no new sense of excitement or anticipation accompanied the new morning. It never did. Her mother always expected Gabriella to wake up and have all the previous emotions wiped away. Her annoying catch phrase was currently on a post-it note hanging on the fridge. "Every day's a brand new slate!" Gabriella sighed, crumpled up the note and let it fall to the ground, not caring enough to put in the trash can. She grabbed a can of juice from the fridge and made her way back upstairs to get ready for her first day at East High. For some unknown reason, Gabriella always put effort into getting ready. Not enough to look like she was trying too hard, but she figured that kids would say enough about her simply being the new student, she didn't need to bring anything else into the equation, like being the "weird girl that doesn't wear makeup," or "the weird girl who looks like she's ready to go to the prom all the time." She's seen it happen too many times. She liked to think that she's perfected the first day of school outfit. Jeans, a camisole, and a light button up sweater always did the job to help her blend in.

Finished getting ready, Gabriella took a deep breath, grabbed her backpack, and took a step outside of her house. The blinding sunlight almost caused her to step back in, blinded. Albuquerque was nice enough, she had decided. It was better than some cities she had lived in before, and it was suburban enough to still have neighborhoods, but not so suburban that you had to travel over an hour to find a decent mall. But, she was beginning to rethink her decision on Albuquerque. It was only 7 a.m. on a September morning, and the temperature was climbing and it seemed as if the sun was almost in the middle of the sky. Shielding her eyes, Gabriella locked her door and set off to East High.

She stood on the sidewalk, staring up at the behemoth of a school. It was larger than a few of the previous ones she had attended, and looked more than intimidating. She always felt awkward on the first day of school at a new place. Everywhere she looked there were old friends embracing and greeting each other, even though they had probably seen each other all summer. Despite Gabriella moving to Albuquerque mid-July, and her mother's pleas for her to get out and meet some kids in the neighborhood, Gabriella had chose not to. She was quite convinced that there was nothing more awkward than introducing herself to people that were only going to be her next door neighbors for a few months, if she had anything to do with it. Besides, it wasn't as if it was only at school that she had a hard time making friends. It was everywhere, and it never got any easier.

She shook her head slightly, and started to make her way up to the school.

------

She eventually made her way to the school's main office. She made her way up to the front desk, and after a moment, the secretary gave her a questioning look.

"Hi, I'm Gabriella Montez, it's my first day here." The secretary cocked an eyebrow at her. "Oh, right, I'm sorry, it's everybody's first day, except well, I'm new and..." she trailed off, embarrassed.

"Montez, you said?" The secretary asked, as she shuffled through the papers in front of her, never looking up.

"Y-yes. I was just, um, they told me when I registered to come here on the first day for my schedule, and-" She was cut off by a piece of paper being slammed down in front of her. She glanced at it, and sure enough it was her schedule. She looked up to thank the secretary, but she was already across the room, filing papers.

"Pleasant." Gabriella muttered as she looked over her schedule. She heard a laugh from behind her, and she whirled around. A pretty African American girl was looking over her shoulder as she stapled a flier to a bulletin board.

"She's always like that, you should be warned. Especially since the school board demanded that she only take _10_ cigarette breaks per day." She said with a kind smile.

Gabriella smiled at the girl's pleasantries. As usual, her witty remarks and, responses in general, were at a loss to her. She went to walk out the door when a hand caught her arm.

"I'm Taylor, by the way." The bulletin board girl said with a grin. "And that lovely woman you just had to deal with is Ms. Lanthier."

"I'm Gabriella." She introduced herself.

"You're new, right? Isn't that what you just told her?" Taylor asked with a nod to the secretary, who was now blowing obnoxiously large bubbles and tapping her manicured nails on the counter. Gabriella nodded, and Taylor guided her out the door, leaving the office behind.

"Welcome to East High!" Taylor said with an exaggerated twirl in the corridor. "Do you know where all your classes are? This school is super hard to get used to." She said as she navigated the halls with ease, instantly confusing Gabriella.

"Well, no, not exactly..." Gabriella said distractedly, still staring at the map of the school on the back of her schedule, and trying to figure out where exactly Taylor had led her.

"Well," Taylor said as she crouched down and read the opposite side of Gabriella's schedule, "we have the same homeroom together. Let me lead the way, and then we can go over your schedule and I'll help you out."

They got to the room and it was already bustling with activity. It was packed with students, all still trying to catch up from summer break. She thought the chatter had paused when she walked in, but she must have been imaging it, because a second later and everything was back to normal. Taylor guided her to a free seat, and sat down next to her. They started going over her schedule in detail, with Taylor writing little notes on her schedule and map - easier routes to each class, what each teacher was like, what not to do in their class, et cetera. When she was done, Gabriella thanked her and turned to study the new notes. _Maybe she doesn't want to be friends? _ Gabriella thought hopefully. _Maybe she was just being nice to the new kid?_ Gabriella's hopes were dashed when Taylor leaned over and tried to resume the conversation.

"So, where are you from?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella resisted the urge to sigh. This was where it all got complicated. Gabriella had to set limits on what to tell people. If you tell people too much the first time you meet them, then they might get the impression that you're friends, and then they want you to tell them more. And when you don't, they just get hurt that you're not open and honest with them. Another reason, in Gabriella's mind, why friendships were overrated.

"I'm from...all around." Gabriella answered, distinctively vague. She turned back to her schedule, and was satisfied when Taylor made no other move to continue the conversation.

Taylor sat back in her seat, looking slightly perplexed at the brunette next to her. She seemed nice enough, maybe a little shy, but...there was something about her. She was just a little hard to read.

Gabriella sat, looking at the schedule intently, which she had already memorized two minutes previously, when she got distracted and looked up. It seemed as if half the basketball team was in her homeroom. A group of about four or five guys walked in, joking and pushing each other, throwing a basketball around. Gabriella looked back down just as quickly as she had looked up. She had no reason to care about the basketball team, let alone who was on it.

She continued studying the schedule to the point where she could've copied it word for word, when she noticed a foot tapping next to her desk. She followed the foot to the torso it belonged to, which was that of an apparent basketball player. The guy had a bushy afro type hairstyle, a basketball attached to his finger, and a shirt that read: "If you can read this, make me a sandwich."

"You seem to have taken up permanent residence in my seat, new girl." The boy said with a grin.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry. I didn't realize..." Gabriella said hurriedly as she began to gather her things.

"Chill, chill!" The boy said, putting a hand on her arm to stop her from moving. "It's cool, I was just kidding. Sit wherever you want. I'm Chad, and you are...?"

"Gabriella." Taylor answered for her, seeing Gabriella's still slightly shell-shocked face. She had clearly not expected anyone to say anything to her, let alone a basketball player. Gabriella had been there and done that before. She knew how the hierarchy of high school worked, and she knew that there wasn't exactly a place for new girls. She was well versed in cliques, and how they worked. She generally avoided them as a rule, preferring to be solitary rather than a team member.

"Gabriella the seat stealer. I like that." Chad joked, and slipped into the seat behind her. Not getting a reaction, he leaned up, to the side of her. "I'm kidding...you know that, right?"

Not wanting to offend him, Gabriella smiled slightly. "I know you're kidding. And it's nice to meet you, Chad." She said politely.

"So," Chad continued. "You're new here?"

"Stunning observation, Danforth." Taylor said, giving Chad a wink and effectively taking Gabriella out of the spotlight.

"Ah, if only your brains would rub off on me." Chad shot back, smiling widely. He leaned over and gave her a brief kiss on the mouth.

"Keep kissing me and maybe you'll be lucky enough."

Their banter continued for a few minutes more until another body slipped into the seat on the other side of Gabriella. Not looking, he hit Gabriella's desk.

"Dude, have you _seen_ the way Sharpay has Zeke whipped?" Not receiving an answer, he turned to see a wide-eyed Gabriella looking back at him.

"Chad, you got prettier since yesterday." He said with a smile, realizing his mistake. Gabriella blushed and turned away. Looking back at him, she found that he was still staring at her.

"I'm Troy." He said, holding out his hand to her.

"Gabriella." She responded, shaking his hand. "And I don't know a Sharpay or a Zeke, so their extracurricular activities aren't really my business."

Gabriella almost put a hand up to her mouth after she said that. What has gotten into her? Making jokes with complete strangers? She must have lost her mind. Lucky for her, Troy let out a loud chuckle, attracting the attention of Taylor and Chad.

"So, you've met Gabriella the seat stealer, have you, Troy?" Chad asked with a smirk.

"Uh, yeah. Do you two know each other?"

"Mmhmm." Chad nodded. "We go way back."

Gabriella shot Taylor an incredulous look, which was met with an understanding smile.

"Boys, it's her first day. How about you make her feel welcome instead of like she was dropped into an alternate universe?" Taylor asked, coming to her rescue. Their response was cut short due to the appearance of their homeroom teacher, Ms. Darbus.

To call her eccentric was to do her a favor, Gabriella thought. She was wearing a completely mismatched outfit, spoke loudly about topics the students clearly didn't care about, and proved to be, simply put, the biggest cellphone Nazi Gabriella has ever encountered.

After she finished her spiel and passed out forms to be signed by parents and students alike, the bell rang and students almost trampled her to get out of the room. Gabriella made to move with the mass of people, when Taylor stopped her.

"Do you need help getting around? I definitely don't mind." Chad and Troy nodded behind her.

"We could help you navigate these '_hallowed halls_.'" Chad offered, doing a dramatization of Ms. Darbus.

Gabriella just continued to back up towards the door.

"No, no, I'll be fine. I mean, thank you, but..." and she was gone.

"See you in Physics, I guess." Taylor called after her, sending a confused look to Chad and Troy.


	2. Honestly Okay

And so it continued for the next few weeks. Taylor, Chad, and Troy did all they could to make Gabriella feel welcome. They offered her help, offered to introduce her to people, even invited her to go to some school activities with them. Each time, Gabriella politely declined.

"No, thank you. I'll be fine." Was the automatic response she gave. She understood that they were only trying to be nice. But, it wasn't fair to them. She knew she would never be able to be close friends with them, as much as she craved it, and she wasn't even sure if she'd be staying in Albuquerque for long, even if her mother insisted that this would be their final destination for a while. She was just convinced that a friendship with her would only lead to hurt for one or both parties involved. _It's not fair of me to put all my problems on another person_, she reminded herself for what seemed to be the millionth time. She felt bad for rebutting their attempts to befriend her, but it was what was best.

One day in October, Gabriella sat in homeroom, eagerly awaiting the bell. _The sooner the day starts, the sooner it's over_, she told herself. She spied Taylor walking over with a determined look and she quickly tried to busy herself with homework. Taylor sat down next to her and leaned towards her.

"Am I bothering you?" She asked bluntly.

"I-I'm sorry? What?"

"You know, like, am I annoying you?" Seeing Gabriella's confused look, Taylor continued. "It just seems like you really don't want me to talk to you. I mean, I want to be your friend, but I... I also don't want to make you mad. So if you want me to stop trying, I will."

Gabriella sat there, stunned. She had to admit, Taylor was probably the most persistent girl she's ever met in high school. Usually, people stopped trying long before this. For some reason, Gabriella didn't want her to stop. She wasn't saying she was ready to have sleepovers with her, but she liked their morning chats, in a way. So, for a brief moment, Gabriella's wall slipped.

"No! I mean, no...you don't annoy me. Or bother me. Or anything like that."

"Well, then what is it? You never want to hang out, in or out of school, you don't want to join the Scholastic Decathalon, even though I've seen your test scores in Physics, and you would be an amazing asset to the team, and you never really encourage conversations. I'm just not sure I understand." She said, not unkindly.

"I'm just...I'm not very good with friends." Gabriella said quietly. She had never told that to anyone except herself. Instead of looking at her like she was crazy, like Gabriella expected, Taylor just nodded.

"Okay, well, I'm not going to pressure you into being friends with me. But, I'm not going to give up, either." She said confidently, smiling. Gabriella returned the smile, and the conversation quickly turned to Physics homework.

From that moment on, Gabriella subconsciously made more of an effort to talk to Taylor, Chad, and Troy. It wasn't as if she all of a sudden was a chatterbox, it was much more subtler than that. She would lean over and correct an answer of Troy's when he did homework in homeroom, or she would sit in Chad's new homeroom seat every now and then, encouraging the nickname he had for her, "Seat-Stealer Montez." She'd giggle a little louder when Troy would put a 'Kick Me' sign on Chad, waiting along with everyone else for him to find out. Every now and then she could swear that she'd look up and Troy would be staring at her, analyzing her. She brushed it off as her imagination. Because, even though she wouldn't admit it, Troy Bolton's blue, analyzing eyes, were the most beautiful she'd ever seen.

About a week after Gabriella's confession to Taylor, something strange happened. She was eating lunch alone in the cafeteria, which was not something strange at all, but all of a sudden she was startled out of her daydreaming by a voice next to her ear.

"Hey there," Troy Bolton greeted as he leaned down next to Gabriella Montez at lunch one day. "You wouldn't happen to want to come eat lunch with me and some of the others, would you?" He asked as he motioned with his towards a table full of laughing and talking jocks, cheerleaders, even Taylor was over there, giggling at Chad for reasons unknown.

"Oh!" Gabriella said, surprised. Troy was always nice to her in homeroom, and even smiled at her in the halls, but never really went out of his way to talk to her otherwise. "Well, no thank you. That's really nice and all, but..."

"Gotcha. Well, no problem, I'm just going to go get lunch now." Troy said, backing up. Gabriella nodded, and returned to staring blankly at her Trigonometry book that lay open on the table in front of her. Not a minute later, someone slid into the seat next to her.

She looked up only to be completely shocked to see Troy Bolton making himself comfortable at her table, opening up his carton of milk.

"Umm..." she started, confused.

"Well," he said, interpreting her confused look correctly. "You said you weren't going to come sit with me, so I decided to come sit with you."

"But...won't they..." she gestured vaguely to his usual table, where a few people had taken notice of where he was sitting.

"Won't they what?" Troy questioned. "Be completely jealous that I'm the first one to eat lunch with the elusive Gabriella Montez? Yup, probably."

Gabriella let out a bark of laughter at his joke. "I'm sure..." she muttered.

After they ate in silence for a few minutes, Gabriella had to ask.

"Why exactly are you...here?" She blurted out finally.

"Because you are." He responded quickly, expecting the question. "And so far you've completely blown me off in homeroom, where you are forced to sit there for ten minutes, stationary, and I thought maybe it'd be fun if we had a little more room to work with. Like, once I ask something personal, maybe this time you could make a run for it instead of rummaging in your backpack."

She stared at him, her jaw dropped in shock. He took this opportunity to lean over and close her mouth with a finger.

"You'll catch flies, with your mouth open like that." He joked. "And besides, don't look so surprised. You think I haven't noticed that whenever anyone asks you something remotely personal, you totally avoid the subject? Or the way that you don't want to offend Taylor after she probably gave you some schtick designed to make you feel guilty that you don't want to be friends with her? Hey, hey, don't be mad," he said, noticing the dark cloud that passed over Gabriella's features. "She just wants to make everyone happy, she didn't mean anything by it. But anyway, what I'm saying is that I just want to get to know you. And I know you've made it completely clear that you, well, _don't_ want to get to know me, but I have to try, right?" He finished with a nervous smile, completely and unknowingly melting Gabriella's heart.

Gabriella smiled and played with some of the food on her plate, twirling pasta around her fork, letting it go, and twirling it again. Just when Troy thought she wasn't going to respond to him, she turned.

"I'm not very good with friends." She repeated, the same thing she had said to Taylor previously. Unlike Taylor, though, Troy didn't let the subject go.

"How many friends have you had?" He asked, catching her off guard. She sat there, giving him a searching look, trying to read his motives.

"Not many." She responded. She refused to say 'none.' That was too lame for ever her.

"You don't know until you try, Gabi." She looked up sharply at the nickname. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know why I just called you that, it just slipped out, I didn't mean to offend you." He apologized.

"No, it's okay." She responded slowly. "I just haven't heard it in a long time..."

"Well, listen,..._Gabi_," he said, pausing to see if the nickname was okay. When she didn't ask that he stop calling her that, he continued. "I want to get to know you. I know that this is probably not what you want to hear, and I don't care. Until you give me a reason to not want to, I'm going to sit with you every day at lunch. And I know that you don't feel comfortable talking about yourself, so we'll work up to that. But for now, I'm just going to answer your questions. Eventually, should my plan work out, you'll get so fed up with my voice that you'll want to share some of your own fun facts."

Gabriella laughed at his plan. He seemed fairly determined to get to know her. So, for the rest of the lunch period, she did just as he requested. Of course, she wasn't about to let him think that she was interested in him, so she resulted to generic questions. By the end of the lunch period, Gabriella was able to name all the different cliques at East High, along with the teachers, their subjects, and how to get to every mall in a forty mile radius.

Too soon for both of them, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. As they gathered their stuff, Gabriella snuck Troy a look, and a questioned escaped her lips before she could second guess it.

"Why?"

"Why what?" He asked.

"Why do you want to get to know me?" Her soft voice was almost drowned out by the shuffle in the cafeteria.

"Because you're not like other girls, Gabriella Montez. Not at all." Smiling at the softened look in Gabi's eyes, he continued. "And I know for a fact that you knew I was the one who put a 'Kick Me' sign on Chad, but you didn't breathe a word."

At this, Gabriella laughed, and Troy knew he was a goner.

-----

Troy didn't know what overcame him when he went to go sit with Gabriella at lunch. He knew he was drawn to her, but usually he wasn't so...proactive. His little stunt at lunch wasn't unnoticed by his friends.

As he made his way to Anatomy after his enjoyable lunch with Gabriella, he was blind sided by his two best friends, Chad and Taylor.

"What'd she say?!" Taylor screeched in his ear, instantly falling into step with Troy. Chad hurriedly caught up and seemed just as interested.

"Nothing, guys, really." Troy mumbled, but couldn't seem to get the small smile on his face to go away.

"Mmmhmm, sure, nothing." Chad said, giving him a knowing look. He clearly didn't believe a word Troy was saying. "You sat with her, I'm pretty sure I even saw a genuine smile on her face, and you say nothing?"

"She doesn't really smile a lot, does she?" Troy asked, mostly to himself.

"She does when you're around." Taylor interjected helpfully. She knew Gabriella had all the potential to be an amazing friend, student, and all around person. She just needed a little help, and if that person could be Troy, all the better.

-----

Gabriella and Troy continued eating lunch together every day for the rest of the week. Gabriella never tired of learning more about the boy sitting in front of her, even though she knew that he must be getting sick of answering her incessant questions.

"Okay, so," Troy began as they sat down at their usual lunch table, somewhat secluded in the back of the cafeteria. "I decided to change things up - if you're amenable, of course."

Gabriella tossed him a confused and somewhat apprehensive glance.

"I am going crazy not knowing anything about you, _so_," he hurried on, seeing Gabriella's hesitancy, "I think our questions should be able to go both ways. Now, I know you're not a huge fan of talking about yourself, so how about, I can only ask you the questions that you've asked me. That way, you can choose just how personal or impersonal you want to make it."

Gabriella mulled this over in her head. He was being so sweet to her, all the time, she did really feel bad that she wasn't giving him anything to go on. But, she was still really reluctant to talk about herself. She didn't understand why friendships had to get so...deep! She knew it was silly as soon as she thought it - _That's what relationships are, stupid, _she told herself. _They're supposed to be meaningful, and you're supposed to be able to share things. It's supposed to be a support system._ All these "supposed to be's" were becoming Gabriella's enemies. She thought she was doing okay without all the friendships, but Troy was the first person to actually make her _want_ more. More than just a nod in the hallway or polite chatter in homeroom. He made her want to spill her secrets, to confide in him. He made her want to believe that real friendships do occur. Coming to that realization, Gabriella let a smile overtake her face.

"Deal."

Although she never really asked anything too deep, Troy found that their question game was a great way to get to know her. Often times, a seemingly innocuous question would lead to a bigger conversation, or even a debate at times.

"Favorite book." Gabriella tossed out, always curious as to what Troy's answer would be. He continuously surprised her, turning out to be so much more than what everyone thought of him. Troy Bolton was shaping up to be just as complex as she was.

"_The Great Gatsby._" Troy tossed out nonchalantly.

"What!" Gabriella exclaimed. "I never would've guessed!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's amazing, Troy Bolton can read." He sighed. Gabriella was amazing, she really was, but he supposed not everyone was immune to stereotypical judging.

Noticing the slightly dejected look in Troy's eyes, Gabriella put a hand on his arm lightly.

"Hey," she said softly, "I didn't mean it like that. I know there's more to you than meets the eye."

"I know," Troy said, "It's just that people here seem to think that just because I play basketball, it means I can't think. Like, Sports Illustrated is all I can read. I'm just that dumb jock."

"Well," Gabriella started, unsure if she should continue. She took a deep breath for courage and tried again.

"It's not like you really discourage that stereotype, Troy." He looked up at this, confused. "Don't get me wrong! I know that you're this smart, caring, awesome guy, but...not many other people do. It's just that you don't really participate in class, and you don't really show an interest in anything other than basketball. I'm not saying that's an excuse for anyone to think you're..._dumb_, or anything, but...I don't know." She trailed off. "It's just something to think about." She finished quietly.

"No, you're right." Troy said after a moment of silence had passed between them. "I don't really make much of an effort to show people more of me. I guess... I don't know." He paused. "You know, you make me learn more about myself than you some days."

Gabriella grinned at that, gathering up her belongings as the bell rang. Just as she was about to leave, Troy put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"What's your favorite book?"

Gabriella blushed slightly, then gave Troy a look he couldn't place.

"_The Great Gatsby._"


	3. Traffic In The Sky

**A/N - Okay, so I know this might have some touchy subject matter in it. And, I know above everyone how serious this subject can be, and how personal it can be. So, I hope everyone knows that I don't mean to offend anyone, and I tried to talk about it as tastefully as I could. Please, no flames...at least not on the subject.**

**Disclaimer ; I own nothing.**

The weekend came and Gabriella found herself oddly missing school. To anyone else, this would seem normal - Gabriella was very smart, and she loved a challenge. School seemed like a natural habitat for people like her. But Gabriella had always dreaded school, in a way. It wasn't the academics, but rather the people. In her previous schools, before East High, school took a nosedive around the end of October. The people stopped pretending to care, the teachers finally told themselves that she wasn't going to bring any academic glory to the school, and Gabriella herself came to terms with the fact that all schools were the same. East High, though, was different.

Troy was still just as persistent as ever, even Taylor and Chad were. They made her laugh and sort of...made her like school. It wasn't the hell that it usually was to her, and that was something special.

So, as Gabriella sat in her room on a beautiful fall afternoon, the Saturday before November, she let out a huge sigh. _This sucks_, she thought dismally. _Since when did my room seem like a prison and school feel like an escape from reality?_

She decided to go downstairs and check up on her mom. They had experienced even less contact together than usual. She didn't see her in the mornings, as Maria Montez was already on her way to work, and she didn't come home until around 7, if that. Sometimes she would smell like alcohol, and those were the nights that Gabriella hated. It wasn't as if her mom was an abusive drunk or anything, but it just reinforced the fact in Gabriella's head: she had chosen to go out after work, to drink, over coming home and spending time with her only daughter.

She moseyed downstairs, only to find a post-it haphazardly stuck to the fridge. "Be home around 9, got called in to work. There's frozen pizza in the freezer!"

_Oh, cool._ Gabriella thought darkly. So, she was allowed to have her favorite food, but only when Maria wasn't home. Her mom always did that. Gabriella knew it was because certain things she did - things she couldn't help at all, mind you - reminded her mother of her father. For instance, Gabriella insisted she eat pizza with ranch salad dressing to dip it in. A delicious habit she had picked up from her father. Gabriella took pride in the habits she adopted from her father, and even took some sort of sick pleasure from the fact that her mother hated it. She would take special care to scrunch up her nose when she didn't understand something, just like Eduardo Montez did, or even hum herself to sleep, something she knew her mom found obnoxious, even when Eduardo did it.

She wanted so badly to know what else her father and her shared. She was 10 when he died, and although she remembers plenty, she knew there were things her mother knew that she would never. But, she also knew that it wasn't anything she could ever hope to have the answer to. "It's not something you talk about, Gabriella" was her mother's answer to anything that concerned her father. His death, his life before, his personality...everything. Gabriella used to grow frustrated at that answer, but that only served to shut off Maria even more.

She remembered the first time she tried to ask her mom what had happened. She was so young, she didn't understand it, she couldn't comprehend why her dad would choose not to live anymore.

_"Mom?" She had snuck downstairs a few weeks after it had happened. It was well past her bedtime, but she couldn't sleep, and she heard her mother downstairs, still packing up boxes, getting them ready for the move. _

_"Mmm?" Maria Montez looked up to her daughter on the stairs. "What is it? Why aren't you sleeping, do you need some water?" Even before Gabriella had asked, Maria Montez was quick to skip the problem and offer alternative solutions._

_"Oh, no...I was just wondering..."_

_"Gabriella, honey, it's late. You should be sleeping." Maria's put her head in her hands, not knowing how to stop her daughter from asking the inevitable._

_"But, mom, I just want to know about daddy..." Before she could say another word, Maria was up and kneeling in front of her on the stairs._

_"I know you want to talk, sweetheart. But you have to understand that...what happened, it isn't something people want to talk about. You shouldn't want to talk about it, and you should know right here, right now, that people don't want to know about it, okay?" She tried to stress the importance of the situation to her baby girl._

_"You...you don't want to _talk_ about him?" Gabriella shrieked, appalled at her mother. "But he was dad! He was _my_ dad! You loved him!" She couldn't understand for the life of her why her own mother didn't want to talk about her husband._

_"Yes, yes I did love him, Gabi." She leaned forward to stroke her daughter's face, but Gabriella recoiled from her._

_"You loved him but you don't want to talk about him?"_

_"Gabriella!" Her mother said sharply. "We will not have this conversation again. This is nothing you talk about. I do not want you talking to your aunts or uncles about this, you will only upset them. People do not want to talk about it. I don't want you asking me any more questions about this."_

_"But...but what about my friends?" Gabriella asked, tears streaming from her eyes. She didn't want to imagine her life without any mention of her father in it._

_"I'm moving you away from here so you can have a new start, Gabriella. You don't need to carry this baggage with you." She turned away from her daughter, not wanting her to see the tears that were threatening to come. "I don't want you talking about this with anyone, Gabi."_

_"Don't call me that." She responded angrily, and ran back up the stairs, leaving her mother alone._

Gabriella had tried a few more times over the course of the years, but each time the response was the same - it wasn't something her mother wanted her talking or thinking about, and Gabriella finally learned that there was nothing that could be done about her mother's aversion to the subject. She had even made the mistake of telling a friend at her new school after the incident about what happened. That escalated very quickly, with eventually the school's counselor suggesting to Maria Montez that her daughter go see a grief counselor to talk about what had happened. She was repulsed by the suggestion, and took Gabriella out of school right away, and asked for a transfer at her work.

From that moment on, Gabriella knew better than to ever mention it to anyone again, not as long as she wanted to stay where she was. And, after seeing a doctor, and being prescribed pills, Gabriella also knew better than to mention those to anyone. Although she had done plenty of research online and she knew that one out of ten American women took anti-depressants, she was still embarrassed by them. After all, her mother had experienced the same thing and _she_ wasn't taking them. To this day, Gabriella still had no understanding of the situation, although she did grasp the concept much better than she had when she was 10. She still didn't have any reasoning as to why her dad had committed suicide, and while she understood that her mother didn't want to talk about it, she was still hurt that her mom didn't think of her as an adult, still shielding her from the truth.

Gabriella shook her head after all the reminiscing. It wasn't that she didn't like thinking about her father, but it sometimes brought back terrible memories, and it always brought up more questions that she knew weren't going to be answered. And, worst of all, it always made Gabriella wish that she were the little girl she was before she found her father's body in the garage.

-----

Monday came quickly enough, which is just what Gabriella needed. She had exhausted her reading supply and needed to get more books from the library, and desperately wanted some interpersonal company, particularly in the form of one Troy Bolton.

She made her way to homeroom with an uncharacteristic smile upon her face. She couldn't explain her good mood - in fact, if anything, she could give reasons as to why she _shouldn't_ be in a good mood. But, she couldn't help feeling that maybe, just maybe, things would be okay.

She smiled politely as she passed people in the halls, and when she got to homeroom, she deftly made her way to her seat, saying hi to people along the way.

"Hey Sharpay, hey Zeke." She said as they paused for a break in between their marathon make out session. She noticed their somewhat shocked faces, but didn't respond. They were always civil to her, so why shouldn't she be nice?

"Did she just...?" Sharpay Evans asked her boyfriend, Zeke Baylor.

"Yeah, I think she did." Zeke responded, just as confused. Gabriella had never been _mean_ to them, but he knew from Troy that she wasn't really comfortable around other people. He shrugged and turned back to his girlfriend. "She's nice, Shar. Maybe she just wants to make more friends?"

Sharpay made a face, but let it relax into a smile.

"As long as that's all she wants to be with you..." she said mischievously, as she pulled Zeke down for another passionate kiss.

Gabriella smiled as she sat in Chad's seat, watching as Sharpay and Zeke continued their kissing. She tried not to stare, but she couldn't help but feel jealous. She had never kissed a boy before, let alone have a boyfriend that looked at her like Zeke looked at Sharpay. She got lost in her thoughts and didn't notice the figure sliding into her usual seat, in front of Chad's commandeered one.

"A lesser guy would be jealous that you're starting at Zeke." Troy's joking voice broke her out of her reverie. Choosing to ignore what his comment really meant, Gabriella turned and smiled at her closest friend at East High.

"Do they ever break for air?" She asked with a smile.

"Rarely. Trust me, it's better this way."

"Why?" Gabriella laughed.

"Well, with them sucking each others faces all the time, we don't have to listen to Zeke talk about Sharpay."

"Or Sharpay talking about Sharpay." Chad interjected as he slid into the seat next to Troy, his hair still bouncing and his shirt reading: 'Procrastinators: Leaders Of Tomorrow.' "What is this? Musical homeroom seats? Maybe I can slip into Taylor's..."

"Don't even think about it, Danforth." Taylor called across the room as she walked into the classroom.

Gabriella looked at the three of them surrounding her, and she realized that this is what she looked forward to on the weekend. She had missed these people, the people that everyday grew closer and closer to becoming her real friends.

"So, Gabi, do anything fun this weekend?" Troy asked, showing genuine interest.

"Nah, not really." She responded quickly. Noticing the somewhat crestfallen look that crossed Troy's face at her lack of a response, she continued. "Just hung out and read a bit. How was yours?"

Troy perked up when Gabriella gave a more or less real answer to a personal question. She seemed a little...he wasn't sure. She just had more energy this morning, which was curious enough because it was a Monday morning. But, he was enjoying the new, more energetic Gabriella nonetheless.

"My weekend was pretty good. Saw the new horror flick with these two wusses." He said, gesturing to Chad and Taylor.

"Hey! I told you guys from the beginning that I didn't want to see it. I was outvoted. Maybe next time you can come, Gabriella, and I'd have another girl to side with me." Taylor said with a smile. The three turned towards Gabriella, wondering how she'd respond.

Instead of her usual, 'no, thank you,', Gabriella's smile brightened.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Troy's eyebrows raised at her response, but instead of making a big deal out of it, he just gave her a warm smile and a wink.

"That still doesn't explain why _you _were screaming like a girl, Chad." He said, directing the conversation off of her. Chad's cheeks turned bright red.

"Taylor was squeezing me _hard_!"

----

Lunchtime came quickly enough, and the gang assembled in their usual table in the corner. Gabriella's cheerful mood was infectious, and they all found themselves laughing a little harder and smiling a little wider.

"Okay, okay, my turn." Taylor said in between chuckles over something Chad had just said. Troy and Gabriella's question game had grown to the four of them, and Gabriella eventually relented and said anyone could ask questions, but she reserved the right to not answer some. "What's your favorite place that you have ever lived?"

Troy shrugged. "That's easy, Albuquerque. Never lived anywhere else."

"Boston, definitely." Chad responded. He had moved to Albuquerque when he was going into 7th grade. "Not a lot of great memories attached to it, but man...Red Sox games every month? Now that was something that was hard to give up." Troy and Taylor nodded understandingly, but Gabriella was a little confused.

"I didn't know you used to live in Boston!" She exclaimed. "I lived there for a little bit during middle school. I loved it there. I remember going to Symphony Hall all the time for their free concerts, it was amazing."

"My mom lives near there now, I think." Chad said with a nod.

"You think?" Gabriella blurted before she could think. Quickly, she amended, "I'm sorry, that's none of my business." She turned bright red and refused to meet anyones eyes.

"Nah, it's okay, Gabriella." Chad said, in a serious voice that wasn't his usual. "My family used to live there, but my parents got divorced. My mom stayed, and dad and I moved out here."

"Oh," she responded in a small voice. "Do you visit her?"

Chad shook his head, his hair swaying.

"She has a new family, new kids. Can't exactly go and shake things up, can I?" He let out a bark of laughter. "Tried to once, actually. I'll tell you the story when someone asks, 'What was your biggest mistake?'"

Gabi nodded, in thought. Chad had talked so candidly about his past and his family, to her, no less, a girl that he hadn't known for half as long as he had Troy and Taylor. _It must be so frustrating for them_, she thought, _they know nothing about me._

"I lived in North Carolina before I moved here." She said softly.

"Really?" Taylor asked. None of them had heard where she had lived before, the Boston comment being the first they had heard of any former residences.

"Yup. My mom gets transferred a lot, usually every summer, if not more frequently. I've lived in over 10 places." _Okay, so she usually asks to be transferred, but it's the same thing, really_, Gabriella thought to herself. "North Carolina was probably my favorite, though. It's as south as I've ever lived, besides here, really. Everyone's so nice."

"Do they have ridiculous accents?" Chad asked with a grin.

"Not as bad as yours, but..." Gabriella said with a smile. Troy had mentioned to her that Chad was a little self conscious about his voice, because people sometimes people accused him of not pronouncing his 'R's, as New Englanders often don't. Truthfully, she wouldn't have guessed Chad was from anywhere except here.

"I have an accent? Would you classify it as Bostonian or New Englandese? Is it noticeable? Can you understand me right now?" Chad asked nervously. Gabi snuck a glance at Troy and Taylor and saw that they were both trying not to laugh.

Finally getting control over the silent giggles that were threatening to erupt, Gabriella put her hand out to stop Chad's incessant questions.

"Relax! You sound just as New Mexico-ian as anyone does, don't worry."

He put a hand over his heart, as if to slow it.

"Don't _do_ that, Montez! Scaring the crap out of me..." he trailed off, as Taylor gave him a kiss square on the lips.

"I think you'd sound adorable with a Boston accent, _if _ you had one...which you don't." Taylor said by way of explanation for her impromptu kiss.

"Ah you sayin' I could fuhget the letta 'Ah' and you'd be coo with that?" Chad asked in the worst Boston imitation accent ever, causing the entire table to burst out with laughter.

"Let's not put it to the test." Taylor said.

The rest of the lunch period continued in the same happy manner as it started, everybody talking about their plans for the rest of the week.

"Ugh, I have scholastic decathlon meetings everyday this week after school." Taylor grumbled. "There are only so many formulas a girl can memorize."

"We're pretty swamped, too." Chad said, motioning to Troy and himself. "Basketball practice everyday. Coach has luckily been letting us out early though, so thank God for small favors."

"Psh, there are no favors. Only a team that has been busting it's ass all year." Troy said, pounding his fist with Chad's. "What about you, Gabs? Any big plans this week?"

"Meh," she shrugged. "It's my birthday on Thursday, so I guess I might do something."

"It's your birthday?!" Taylor squealed. "You never said anything!"

"It's not that big of a deal, really." Gabriella insisted.

"Of course it is!" Taylor exclaimed. "Oh, we _must_ do something to celebrate. 17, right?"

Gabriella nodded. She hadn't celebrated a birthday in...7 years. She didn't even know what people _did_ to celebrate birthdays.

"I don't know..." she started, but was cut off by Troy and Chad.

"Come on, Gabriella!"

"We don't have to do anything crazy." Troy said quietly, looking into her eyes. _How can I say no to those blue eyes? _Gabriella asked herself.

"Well, maybe something low key..." she didn't get to finish as Taylor started clapping with excitement.

"How about we - us four - go out to dinner on Saturday night, or something? Then maybe, if you wanted to, you could spend the night? Only if you want to, of course." Taylor looked at her hopefully.

_Please say yes, please say yes,_ Taylor silently pled. She knew Gabriella _wanted_ to, she could see it in her eyes. But she also knew that whatever held her back from making friends in the first place was also holding her back at this instance. But, she had come a long way from the shy, timid girl that she had met the first day. _You can do this,_ she silently told Gabriella.

Gabi took a deep breath. It wouldn't be the end of the world to do something for her birthday. She knew she didn't have any plans on Saturday night - when did she ever? Besides, spending the night at Taylor's would mean that she wouldn't have to sit at home and wait for her mom to sneak in at some obscene hour. Worse comes to worst, she could leave if things weren't going well.

"It..." she paused, gathering resolve. "...sounds like it could be fun."

"Yes!" Taylor leaned over and hugged her, and Chad and Troy high fived.

Slowly but surely, Troy Bolton was breaking Gabriella Montez out of her shell.


	4. Ever Ever After

**A/N: Okay, so I just want to thank everybody for their reviews. Seriously. I've posted on other sites before, but none of them have ever been this active before, so I never really got reviews. But, getting them, and realizing how they make me want to write so much more, definitely makes me want to review other stories, so I'm definitely going to make a conscious effort to do so. But thank you to everyone who reviewed, and even those that didn't... I'm glad people are reading, that's all! Also, I went back and named the chapters after the songs that indirectly inspired me, just so you know.**

**The previous one's were Ashlee Simpson, Dido, & Jack Johnson. This one is Carrie Underwood's "Ever Ever After."**

**Disclaimer ; I own nothinggggg.**

Tuesday came and went. By Wednesday, Gabriella decided, Troy was acting _weird_. He was asking more and more questions about her, obscure things, and Gabriella wasn't sure what was prompting it.

It was Wednesday morning and Troy was interrogating her.

"Favorite band before the '90s?"

"Easy, The Beatles." Gabriella responded, looking curiously at the boy next to her.

"Are you allergic to anything?"

"No..."

"Favorite snack food that doesn't need to be refrigerated?"

"Um, caramel popcorn. But what does this have to do with anything? And you're cheating, not even allowing me to ask you the same questions back!"

"Oh, right..." Troy said, somewhat distractedly. "Led Zeppelin, penicillin, and anything chocolate." He leaned back into his seat and scribbled something on a notebook on his desk.

"Okay, now, favorite flower?" Troy persisted. Shaking her head, Gabriella relented, answering his questions without a fight.

"Day lilies."

"PB&J or PB & Fluff?"

"PB&J."

"Are you afraid of heights?"

"No."

At this point, Chad and Taylor had walked into homeroom together and had taken their seats. They gave Gabriella curious looks, which she shrugged off. She was just as clueless as they were.

"Original songs or covers?"

"Depends on who does the covering."

"Favorite texture?"

"Troy!" Chad shouted, effectively saving Gabriella from answering the ridiculous question. "What is _up_, man? We practicing during free period?"

Sensing Troy's distraction, Gabi turned and looked at Taylor.

"Is he being...weird? Or is it just me?"

Taylor laughed. Troy was definitely being weird, but only towards Gabriella. "Um, maybe he just wants to know what to get you for your birthday?"

"My favorite _texture_?" Gabriella asked incredulously. Taylor had to laugh at that.

"Yeah, I have no idea what that has to do with anything."

They shared a laugh over that, and looked over at the boys, only to see Chad hitting Troy over the head with the notebook that he had been furiously scribbling in only a second ago.

"Hm. They're so weird sometimes." Taylor noted. "Anyway, we still on for Saturday?"

Gabriella nodded in response. She had given it plenty of thought, and she was convinced that it would be a good time. Taylor had assured her that it was fine with her mom, and that her mom was even eager to meet her.

"She's so sick of me hanging out with the guys all the time," she had told her. "She's glad that a girl other than her is willing to put up with me!"

"It'll be fun." Gabriella said, more to herself than to Taylor.

"Of course it will be!" Taylor said. "And, thanks to Troy, I know you're not allergic to anything, but, I mean, you won't be upset if we go someplace that doesn't have PB&J on Saturday, right?" Gabriella had to laugh at this.

"Of course! I haven't been out to eat anywhere here, so it's really up to you. I will eat anything, I'm really not picky."

"Hmmm...how about Italian?"

"Sure..." Gabriella replied, trying to sneak a look at Troy's notebook, to see what he had been writing.

"Great!" Taylor continued. "I know the perfect place. It's a little fancy, but nothing too bad." Hearing the word 'fancy,' Gabriella whirled around.

"When you say 'fancy,' what exactly do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing really. They just overcharge you for a plate of pasta, that's all."

Gabriella gulped. "What...what do I wear?" She hadn't been to a fancy restaurant in the past couple years. The last time was when she was 14, and her mother and her had to go out to eat for Thanksgiving since they still had boxes all over their new house in San Diego.

"I think you'd be okay with a sundress. You know, no gowns or anything, but just a little something..." she trailed off at seeing Gabi's face. "You don't have a dress, do you?"

Gabriella shook her head franticly. She had plenty of jeans and tees, and even some fancier tops, but she was sadly lacking in the dress department.

"Oh, well that's easily remedied. How about we hit the mall on Friday night?"

Gabriella hesitated, then remembered that she was going to be spending the weekend with Taylor, so what could one little mall trip hurt?

"Sure, that sounds like fun. But - promise me that you'll tell me when something looks totally terrible." She replied with a smile.

"Only if you promise me the same!" Gabi grinned and stuck out her hand.

"Deal!"

----

Gabriella woke up Thursday morning expecting to feel different. Expecting to feel older. Instead, she felt oddly similar to how she did the previous day. She sighed as she got out of bed. It wasn't as if 17 was a huge birthday, anyway. Of course, she could now officially go see rated R movies, but that was it, pretty much. But, then she remembered the upcoming weekend and couldn't stop the smile that overtook her face. She wasn't just celebrating her birthday, but she was celebrating the fact that she, for the first time, had real friends. Sure, they didn't know everything about her, but they were willing to overlook that, which, in Gabriella's mind, made them even better friends. They liked her for who she was, without knowing anything about her past.

Greeting the day with renewed strength, Gabriella skipped downstairs to get some food before getting ready for the day. Her mother had said last night that she wasn't going to be able to be there in the morning, but that she hoped that she would have a great day at school. Maria Montez knew very little of Gabriella's social life, or academic life, really, but she sensed a difference in her daughter. She chocked it up to the anti-depressants working.

As Gabriella waited for her Poptarts to toast, she noticed a box on the table, tied with ribbon and with her name on it. Her mother didn't generally get her gifts, usually she just got an envelope with some money, and a note that said that more money had been added to her college fund.

Gabriella looked over the box to see if there was a note. No note, no card, just her name written on the box. Upon closer inspection, she could definitely tell that it was her mother's handwriting. Tearing into the box, Gabi was shocked with what she found. A lovely cream colored sweater was sitting in the box.

It was soft and silky as it sat in Gabriella's hand, a texture she assumed was of rabbit hair and some other synthetic fabric. She made a mental note to tell Troy that _this_ was her favorite texture. It was long, almost to her knees, cable knit in the front, and only buttoned up to her chest. She supposed it was meant to be left open, as a duster would be. She clearly needed to wear something underneath it, but what could she wear? The question soon answered itself as something else in the box caught her eyes. It was a dark maroon tank top, smooth yet cottony. It had a layer of lace atop of it, and it complimented the cream of the sweater impeccably.

She loved it instantly, loving the colors, the fabric, and the look she knew it would create on her petite frame. But who gave it to her? Searching the box for an answer, she came across a small note, on her mother's trademark post-its.

_Gabriella,_ it read. _Saw this in a store and thought of you. Hope you like it. Happy Birthday!_ It was ended with a hastily scrawled heart and her mother's signature.

_Curious_, Gabriella thought. But she didn't care, it was a great gift, and it effectively ended her dilemma of what she was going to wear to school that day.

----

Gabriella got to school a little bit earlier than usual, and was surprised when she ran into an out of breath Troy as she made her way to her locker.

"Hey, Wildcat!" She greeted him with her new nickname. "Did you have practice this morning or something?" She asked, gesturing to his slightly out of breath and sweaty presentation.

"What? Oh, no, no, nothing like that. Just getting things ready." Before Gabriella could ask just what he was getting ready, she found herself in a bone crushing hug, getting twirled around. "Happy Birthday, Gabi! How's 17 feel?"

He continued to twirl her, causing her to giggle instead of respond. She shrieked with laughter, "Put me down, Wildcat!"

"Fine, fine, fine..." he relented as he put a dizzy Gabriella down in front of him. "So, 17...?"

"Feels a lot like 16 if you ask me." She responded as he accompanied her to her locker. "So, what were you getting ready?"

Troy brushed off her question. "Eh, nothing, nothing, trust me. Hey, wanna have lunch together?"

Gabi gave him a look out of the corner of her eyes.

"Troy, we eat lunch together every day. I can't get rid of you!" She teased, grinning at him.

"Hah hah, Miss Montez," he teased her back. "Hey, I got to go finish things up," he said as he was already retreating down the hall. "But that was a yes, right?" He called back to her.

"Um, sure!" She called back, feeling confused.

-

She made it to homeroom a little later than usual, due to Taylor's hinderance at her locker. It was like she was trying to prevent Gabriella from going to homeroom. By the time they got there, everyone was already seated, even Troy.

She tossed Taylor a suspecting glance but made her way to her seat, blushing when she saw an oversized pink envelope on her desk. She sat down quickly, and turned to Taylor.

"What is this?" She hissed, trying to remain quiet as Ms. Darbus went over daily announcements.

"It _looks_ like a birthday card, if you ask me." She said with a smile. "What do you think, Chad?"

Chad nodded in agreement. "I'd say so, Taylor. What do you think, Troy?"

Troy didn't respond, just grinned at Gabriella. "Open it, Gabi!"

She didn't need to be told twice, and Gabriella discreetly opened up the card from her friends. What she found was definitely a surprise to her. It looked innocent enough, the front reading a generic '_Wishing You Well On Your Birthday!'_ It was when she opened it that she was confused.

"Huh?"

It was as if everyone in her homeroom had signed the card addressed to her. Most prominently was Sharpay Evans, her signature taking up a good portion of a page. She looked up only to see the class smiling back at her. She smiled faintly back.

"Thank you..." she whispered, not quite sure what to say. No one had ever done this for her.

'Happy Birthdays' were chorused around the room, making Gabriella blush a deep red.

"I...this is incredible, everybody." She said louder than before. "Thank you, really."

"It's your _birthday_, Gabriella!" Sharpay exclaimed, still seeing the confused look on her face. "You deserve a card, at least." Sharpay smiled and turned around, before whipping back around. "Oh, and my birthday's in February!"

The group laughed at Sharpay's brief foray into selflessness, only to see it disappear at the thought of her own presents.

"I _know_ you guys had something to do with this." Gabriella said, feigning anger. When she saw a hint of apprehension in their face, she smiled. "And thank you, so much. No one's ever done something like this." She blushed at her admission. "It means a lot."

Once sensing that Gabriella wasn't angry with them, the group let out small laughs.

"Actually," Taylor started. "It was _that_ one's idea." Gabriella turned to see she was gesturing towards Chad.

He shrugged at the attention.

"I know how hard it is being the new kid."

Gabriella appreciated his sentiment more than he knew, and she leaned over gave him a hug. "Thank you." She whispered in his ear.

"Happy Birthday." He whispered back, giving a somewhat surprised look at Taylor. This was about as emotional as anyone had ever seen Gabriella. Taylor beamed with happiness, and Troy grinned at the display between his two friends.

"So," Gabriella started after she pulled back. "Was _this_ what you were getting ready this morning?" She asked Troy.

"Oh," Chad said, talking for Troy. "He was actually-"

"Getting everyone to sign!" Troy hurriedly cut off Chad. He gave him a meaningful look.

"Uh, okay?" Gabi responded.

Troy broke his glare at Chad and returned his attention to her. "Chad, psh, trying to take all the credit."

Gabi laughed and Troy let out a sigh of relief, his surprise wasn't ruined.

-

After Gabi and Taylor had left for Physics, Chad and Troy started to make their way to Algebra.

"Dude!" Troy slapped his best friend on the back of the head. "Way to almost ruin it!"

"Hey!" Chad exclaimed, making sure his hair wasn't messed up, "Way to _actually_ take all my credit!"

Troy sighed. "I know, I'm sorry, man. I didn't know what to say! You caught me off guard!"

"How was I supposed to know you hadn't told her yet? I thought you said you were going to ask her to lunch this morning?"

"Well, I did ask her to lunch...I just didn't mention where." Troy let a dreamy smile pass over his face. "I want it to be a surprise. I want it to be perfect."

Chad pushed him into the lockers.

"You got it bad, bro."

-

Gabriella was looking forward to lunch more than usual. She kept telling herself that it wasn't going to be any different than any other day. Her, Troy, Chad, and Taylor. That's it. But she couldn't shake the feeling that today's lunch was going to be special.

She tapped her pen continuously, anxiously awaiting the lunch bell. She wasn't even aware that she was doing it until a hand came down upon hers, stopping the movement.

"It's only triangles, Gabriella!" Startled, Gabi looked over at Taylor, who was holding her hand still and giving her a searching look. She took another glance at the clock, sinking lower in her seat. There was still 10 more minutes in Trigonometry left.

"You're usually uber-focused in this class, what's up?" Taylor asked, even though she had a pretty good idea as to what the answer was. "It wouldn't have anything to do with a certain brown haired, blue eyed basketball player that is desperately trying to get your attention, would it?"

Gabriella looked up at this, and sure enough, she could see Troy through the glass panel on the door, gesturing wildly. She was officially confused.

"What does he want?" She whispered to Taylor.

"Well, I don't think he wants to join Honors Trig anytime soon...I've seen his Algebra scores." She looked at Gabriella, still trying to discern what Troy was doing. "Gabriella! Get out there! Ask to go to the nurse or something!"

Unsure of what Troy wanted, but longing to get out of this suddenly boring class, Gabriella raised her hand, somewhat shakily.

"Yes, Miss Montez?" The teacher asked, noticing her hand. She rarely spoke in his class and she was surprised he even knew her name.

"Um, may I please go to the nurse?"

"Oh, right. Sure." The teacher glanced at the clock. "Better take all your things, class will be over soon." With that, he turned back to the board and proceeded to write more equations.

Gathering her things, Gabriella looked at Taylor. "Take good notes?"

"Go!"

-

Practically running out of class, Gabriella got into the hallway, only to have her hand to be taken by Troy, him leading them away from the class.

"What's going on, Troy?"

"Ready for lunch?" He asked with a wide smile.

"Lunch doesn't even start for another 10 minutes!"

"For everyone else, that may be true. For you and I, that is not the case."

She realized they had stopped, and he was holding open a door for her, and beyond the door was a set of stairs, leading up.

"Where are we going?" She asked curiously, before climbing up the stairs.

"Do you trust me?" Troy asked. Taken aback by the question, Gabriella didn't respond. "Well, let me put it this way," Troy continued when Gabriella didn't respond right away. "I trust myself. And you always tell me I'm an excellent judge of character." She smiled at his logic, and made her way up the stairs.

Taking a deep breath for courage, Troy followed her up, almost running into her when she had abruptly stopped on the top step.

"What _is_ this place?" She asked as she made her way onto the landing that surrounded her. They were clearly on a part of the school's roof, but it was unlike any roof Gabriella had ever seen. Plants were in bloom everywhere, thriving in the constant sunlight and occasional rainfall. She made her way to the most beautiful bouquet of day lilies she had ever seen. Coupled with a few brighter flowers and baby's breath, it was stunning. She turned and looked at Troy expectantly, although she couldn't seem to get the large smile off her face.

"This," Troy gestured to the surrounding plants and flowers, "is the science club's secret jungle."

"You're on the science club?" She scrunched her nose in confusion. He never mentioned it to her.

"Well, no, not exactly."

"Then, how did you..."

"I have some buddies on the club." He said with a shrug. "They let me know about it."

"Wow," she breathed, taking in the view of the mountains in the distance. "This is amazing, Troy."

"So, Happy Birthday, Gabriella."

She turned around and noticed for the first time the picnic spread that was made out by her feet. She looked up at Troy only to see him blushing. She rushed towards him and gave him a huge hug, which he returned whole heartedly.

She finally pulled away and sat down on the blanket, patting the spot next to her for him. He sat down and pulled the picnic basket closer to him, opening it up to reveal it's contents.

"We have," he paused to rummage around, then started pulling out various baggies and bowls, "the finest PB&J in Albuquerque," he threw her a baggie, "delicious, calcium-enriched chocolate milk," he tossed her a bottle, "the best non-refrigerator-needing snack," he shook a box of Crunch 'N Munch, caramel popcorn with peanuts, "and...grapes." Gabriella snorted at that.

"A little anti-climactic there, Bolton."

He faked a slightly hurt look, and threw the bowl of grapes at her. "They're seedless." He said, and stuck out his tongue at her. She giggled, completely overwhelmed yet pleasantly surprised by all of this.

"So," she started, "this is what you were getting ready this morning, I presume?"

He nodded. "It's not much, but-"

"It's perfect, Troy." She cut him off. "The best birthday I've had in a long time."

The rest of lunch passed in relative silence, except with the soft sound of the _Across The Universe_ soundtrack. Gabriella sang along quietly, enjoying all the thought and effort that must have gone into the entire plan. It certainly explains why he had been acting so weird, and what he was constantly writing in his notebook.

"You have a great voice, Gabriella." Troy interrupted her singing along to "Let It Be." She blushed furiously under his praise.

"Nah, but thank you."

"No, seriously. You sound amazing." Gabi just shook her head, letting the all-too-familiar blush overtake her face. They fell into a comfortable silence afterwards. They shared a few jokes, asked a few questions, even threw a few grapes at each other. When Troy made to get up, Gabriella looked up concerned.

"Is it time to go?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. But I still have to give you your gift." Gabi shook her head.

"This is enough, Troy, trust me. You really didn't have to get me anything..." He placed a finger over her mouth, effectively stopping her from saying any more.

"I know I didn't _have_ to, but I wanted to. And, if you don't want to hurt my feelings, you'll take it without putting up a fuss." He pouted, causing Gabi to smile and push him lightly on the shoulder.

"Alright then, give it here."

Troy whipped out a small box from behind his back, about the size of a pencil case. He gave it to her with a flourish, bowing low as he held it out to her.

She laughed and took it, carefully undoing the ribbon around it. She opened it up and let a small gasp escape her.

"Troy! It's beautiful!" Laying there in the box was an ornate locket, larger than the ones she usually sees, but still beautiful. It was a brushed copper, and had an antique feel about it. The chain was long, and the locket had a raised pattern of vines and flowers on it. She took the locket in her hand, noting it's weight in her hand. It was a little larger than a half dollar, and looked artsy rather than just another pretty necklace. She loved it.

"It's so unique, how did you find it? Ah, gosh...no one's ever given me a gift like this before..." She talked softly, almost under her breath as he fingered the locket, turning it over and over in her hands.

"I saw it in a boutique downtown, and I don't know, it just reminded me of you for some reason. Do you like it...?" He looked almost nervous, and Gabi, for the the life of her, couldn't figure out why.

"Of course I do! It's gorgeous!" Troy let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"In that case, well, lemme just say that you can put anything inside that you want. Pictures, or whatever. It's kind of thick so I'm sure you could but other things in it." At Gabriella's confused look, he said, "Well, I can't think of anything at the immediate time, but I'm sure that there are other things you can add!"

Gabriella laughed and hugged him once again. The gift was perfect, she loved everything about it.

"What's in it right now?" She asked as she turned it over again in her hands, trying to figure out how to open it. Troy leaned over and gently showed her where to press for it to open. She traced the picture in it with her fingers, loving it instantly.

"And, I mean, like I said, you can change it or whatever, but I just put it in there..."

"It's perfect." Gabriella said, and she meant it. It was a picture of her, Troy, Taylor and Chad, all of them leaning on Gabi's desk in homeroom. She remembered when it had been taken, Ryan Evans had came into the classroom, snapping his camera away, claiming it had been for the yearbook.

She looked up at the boy sitting next to her, grinning like a fool. She felt like she had fell into a fairy tale. How had her completely boring, isolated existence turn into this perfect moment she was experiencing right now? She had no idea, and as she leaned up and placed a kiss on Troy's cheek, she knew that her life had been completely changed in the 30 minutes she had been up on the secret rooftop garden.


	5. Everyday America

**A/N: Just wanted to say thank you to reviewers and alerters alike! I appreciate it more than you know.**

**Disclaimer; I own nothing, and promise to return Troy Bolton ALMOST as good as new when I'm done with him.**

As Friday morning rolled around, Gabriella had to restrain herself from pulverizing her alarm clock. Her eyes felt puffy, and her eyelashes were congealed to her face. Prying them apart with a decided, "Yuck!" Gabriella sighed and put her head in her hands. Yesterday had been the perfect day - almost.

After her fairy tale lunch with Troy, the school day seemed to pass like a dream. She floated to her classes, a goofy smile gracing her face. The same smile that had also taken up permanent residence on Troy's face, she had noticed. He had given her a ride home from school that day, insisting that she couldn't walk with her huge bouquet of lilies. He was a perfect gentleman, and had left her on her doorstep with a light kiss to her cheek, and the promise of seeing her the next day.

Convinced nothing could ruin her day, she arranged the flowers in a vase on the kitchen table, grabbed a snack from the cupboard, and made her way to her room to finish up her homework and read. She had finished her homework and fell asleep almost immediately afterwards, yet awoke at the sound of glass breaking in her kitchen. Panic flooded her body until she heard her mother's muffled giggles. The panic quickly transformed into anger.

_"Mother, what are you doing?!" She had rushed downstairs right away, to see what had broken. She stopped on the third step from the bottom and found her mother stumbling slightly in the kitchen, the broken vase at her feet and lilies scattered across the linoleum._

_Before Gabriella could as so much warn her mother, Maria Montez almost fell over, and in her attempt to stay upright, she stepped on almost all of the flowers. Gabriella felt her own heart get trampled on, too._

_"Stop it!" Gabriella shrieked, racing down the remaining stairs and into the kitchen. She bent down and started to gather the destroyed flowers and shards of glass._

_"Oh, don't worry, honey," her mother slurred, "I'm wearing shoes."_

_"_I'm _not." Gabriella muttered, throwing away her beautiful present from Troy. After cleaning up the mess, she turned to leave the room, not saying a word to her mother._

_"What, you're not going to even say thank you for the sweater?" Her mother called out after her as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Gabriella took a deep breath to stay calm. And then she took 5 more, then 5 after that, and found that her rage had not subsided._

_"Thank you??" Gabriella whirled around. "Yes, thank you, mother." She spat out. "Thank you for this beautiful sweater and tank top, and thank you for ruining my _other_ beautiful gift. Thank you for coming home drunk, and thank you for barely remembering my birthday."_

_When her mother didn't respond, Gabriella continued, "Anything else I should be grateful for, or can I go now?" Not waiting for an answer, Gabriella went to continue up the stairs._

_"Don...Don't talk to me that way!" Her mother's voice shook as she called after her. She was quickly sobering up. _

_"You're right. That was quite unpleasant." Gabriella spoke without turning around. "I guess I'll just go back to not talking to you at all."_

_She had ran to her room after that, not expecting and not receiving a follow up visit from her mother. She lay in bed and cried. Cried for her ruined gift, her dead father, her incapable mother, and the fact that there was no end in foreseeable sight._

Shaking the memories of the previous night out of her head, Gabriella ran through her morning ritual, finally making her way downstairs and out of the house. About to lock up, she remembered something and ran back inside.

"_If you get home before I do, I went to the mall after school with Taylor. In case you forgot, I'm spending the night at her house tomorrow."_ She scrawled on a post it, not bothering to leave a "love" or a heart, or anything signifying her respect she had for her mother, because this morning, she had none.

-

The school day passed with a blur. She noticed Troy beaming a little brighter at her, and she returned the smile as brightly as she could. He had really gone the extra mile for her yesterday, and it wasn't his fault her mother was a screw-up. Everyone seemed excited for the following night, and the majority of the lunch period was spent discussing it. A nice dinner out at a local Italian restaurant, followed by a movie at Taylor's, and Gabriella spending the night there. She had to admit that she was as nervous as she had ever been before in her life - even more so than she had been on her first day at East High. That day, she had known what to expect, but a night out with friends was a completely unknown variable.

She was a nervous wreck by the end of the day, and when Taylor stopped by her locker at the end of the day, she could easily tell.

"Hey, Gabs," She said softly. "Are you okay? You seem a little..."

"Nervous?" Gabriella squeaked.

"Yeah, that." Taylor laughed. "Come on, it won't be that bad." She took Gabi's hand and led her out to the student parking lot. "And besides, a mall adventure with me and not only am I buying your dress," she held out a hand to stop Gabriella from protesting, "as your _birthday_ gift, but I will tell you any and everything you want to about a certain Troy Bolton."

Gabriella grinned and felt some of the tension leave her body.

"Fine...but _only_ because you're buying my dress."

"_Sure._"

----

The ride to the mall was harmless enough. The girls talked and laughed, one time so hard that Taylor had to pull over to the side of the road after finishing a particularly funny anecdote about Chad.

"He..said...what?!" Gabriella asked between bouts of laughter.

"He walked right up to the front of the classroom and offered to show everyone what to do with a banana - after all, he was the _expert_." Taylor said, trying to control her giggles.

"Oh my gosh..." Gabi was now holding her stomach, as it hurt too much from laughing.

"Poor kid had no idea the sex ed demonstration was about to begin during home ec. And ever since then, Chad has never fallen asleep in a class."

Gabriella worked hard to get her laughter under control. She had never laughed as hard as she had just did. She had never experienced laughter cramps, or the tears that leaked out of her eyes as she tried desperately to get her laughter under control. It was a new experience for her, and she was starting to look forward to following night more and more.

They quickly got to the mall after their slight pause, and Taylor led the way to the best dress shop in the mall, certain that Gabriella could find something suitable.

"So..." Gabriella started as she perused the seemingly endless racks of dresses.

"So, what do you want to know about Troy?" Taylor read her mind.

"Does he...you know..._date_ a lot?" It was something that was bothering Gabriella a lot recently. He had never mentioned girls when he was with her, but, then again, she had never asked.

"Well, he has dated in the past, if that's what you mean. But recently? Not so much. He's pretty focused on basketball, and as far as I know, he hasn't shown any interest in anyone except you this year." She smiled as Gabriella got a far away look on her face.

"Really? Well, no, he doesn't _like_ like me or anything, we're just friends..."

"Mmhmm." Taylor snorted. "I haven't seen Troy stand up for _Chad_ like he has for you. That boy has developed one hell of a backbone since you came here, that's for sure."

"What...What do you mean?" Gabi was curious. Troy had never mentioned anything to her.

"Oh! Um, well, you see..." Taylor fumbled with words. She didn't realize Gabi didn't know about Troy's proclamation to the school. She didn't exactly know how to tell her new friend that the cheerleaders at the school didn't really like her, either.

Watching Taylor struggle for words, Gabi put a hand on her arm lightly.

"It's okay, I know what some of the girls say about me at East High." It didn't mean that it didn't hurt, but Gabi was used to the whispered words and sharp glances.

"Ah, yes, well...some of the cheerleaders were using some particularly colorful terms to describe you - which is odd, because I was convinced they could only _spell out_ words, not actually use them in sentences - and they either did it on purpose or by accident, I can't really tell, but they said it in front of Troy." She looked up to see Gabi looking interested in the story, and let out a sigh. "Well, let's just say that Troy didn't take it so well. He pretty much freaked, and let them know that if they had a problem with you, they had a problem with him. And, until they resolved that problem, they weren't welcome at any after game parties at his house." Gabi's jaw dropped at this, but Taylor continued. "A couple of them apologized, but a few of them didn't. Troy still doesn't talk to them, as far as I know."

"When did this happen?"

"Hmm. I think it was a couple of weeks into school."

"What!" Gabriella exclaimed. "I didn't even _know_ him then!" Taylor shrugged at this.

"Love makes people do funny things."

"L-love? Nooo, no, no. Troy and I are just friends. I'm sure that basketball's the only thing keeping him from dating." Gabriella seemed to be trying to convince herself rather than Taylor. Taylor laughed when she heard Gabi's logic, though.

"I would love to see how a potential girlfriend would act when Troy tells his _tenth_ story about you over dinner." Gabriella gave her an incredulous look, and Taylor said, "Trust me, Chad's had to result to violent measures to shut Troy up on several occasions. I've seen it...it isn't pretty." With this, Taylor left her friend to think over what she had said, and began her quest for the perfect dress.

Meanwhile, Gabriella was lost in thought, flicking through dresses but not really seeing any of them.

_Maybe he _does_ like me,_ she thought. _Telling stories about me and standing up for me? It could mean plenty of things, but Taylor could be right. _She blushed at the thought of Troy standing up for her against all of his cheerleader friends. _No boy has ever done that for me, ever. It _has_ to mean something! _With renewed vigor, Gabriella started searching the dress racks, determined to find something that Troy would love. She was startled out of her in depth scrutiny of a black sparkly dress, when Taylor called her over.

She walked over to her friend, only to find her holding out a beautiful dress. Taylor definitely had great style. It was a burgundy halter dress, with a modest v-neck in the front, although the back swooped dangerously low. The skirt ran almost to her knees it looked like, and swirled out lightly. It looked perfect.

Gabriella let out a small 'eek!' and grabbed it from her friend and ran to a dressing room to try it on. After adjusting it, Gabriella had to admit that it probably wasn't something she would have picked for herself before. _But, that was before, and this is now,_ she told herself. The back draped lower than low, opening to just above her tailbone. But the front wasn't too bad, and it made her look much more well endowed than she really was. She slowly opened the door to show Taylor.

"Oh my gosh, you look beautiful!" Taylor motioned for her to do a spin. She gasped when she saw the back. "Troy is going to _freak_."

"So, we like it then?" Gabriella asked hesitantly.

"We love it! Do you have shoes to go?" Gabriella mulled it over, and decided that she could wear her tiny black heels, and accent it with black jewelry. She nodded, and Taylor clapped with excitement.

-

By the time Gabriella got home that night, it was well past 8 o clock. Her and Taylor had spent hours in the mall, looking at everything there was to be seen. It was getting closer to Christmas time and they were starting to advertise for the holidays, making the mall seem almost beautiful to Gabriella.

Gabi had to admit that the mall trip wasn't a waste of time at all. Not only did she get a great dress, plenty of new books and brand new boots, but she learned tons of stuff about Taylor _and_ Troy. She had learned that Taylor had two older sisters that were in college, but come home for breaks every now and then, and that the three of them together were an "unstoppable" force. Gabriella felt pangs of jealousy when Taylor told her stories about the her and her sisters, wishing desperately that she had siblings to share life with. She had also learned that Taylor and Chad had only been dating since the beginning of the summer, and before that had been, what Taylor had described as, "sworn enemies." It was hard for Gabi to imagine, as she couldn't really picture the two of them as anything less than perfect for each other, and she told Taylor so. Taylor had only laughed it off, saying something about how ludicrous it was that she could see _that_, but not see Troy's true feelings for her.

Gabriella tried to use the time spent with Taylor to her advantage. She knew plenty about Troy, but nothing that was really personal. She could list his favorite movies and shows, and even what he was allergic to, but she didn't know anything intimate. Taylor remedied that quickly enough, though. Gabriella found out that Troy had never had a long term girlfriend, was a virgin ("He and Chad made a pact, okay!" Taylor had exclaimed at Gabriella's raised eyebrow), used to tell people his favorite color was "rainbow" until people started making fun of him, was deathly afraid of clowns, and had heard too many horror stories about Slip 'N' Slides, so many that he refused to play on them to this day. Gabi relished all this new information at Troy. Sure, it didn't exactly reveal the mystery underneath the basketball exterior, but it was nice to get another glimpse of his life from a different perspective. She was _pretty_ sure Troy wasn't going to confess his fear of clowns anytime soon, but she liked knowing about his fear..it made him seem much more human.

-

Gabriella woke up earlier than normal for a Saturday morning. But she couldn't help it, she was excited for the upcoming night! Her stomach was chock full of butterflies, and she took out her dress no less than 10 times in the course of an hour to make sure it was still there, looking pretty as ever. She tried to waste the day away, knowing that if she didn't waste time, she would just sit there and watch the clock tick. She watched two movies, did all of her homework for the weekend, and almost finished one of her new books before deciding to get ready.

She gave herself plenty of extra time, not having any idea what she was going to do with her hair or makeup. She had never dressed up like this before, and she was stressing out over how to make everything go perfect. She had already packed an overnight bag for Taylor's and had triple checked it to make sure everything was all set. She showered and then spent no less than an hour and a half on her hair. She had settled on doing her hair up, in a version of the French twist, only messier. She let plenty tendrils fall in her face and she made sure every piece of hair was strategically placed to looklike it _wasn't_ strategically placed. She saved her makeup for last - after all, she could do that in the dark, blindfolded, it was so easy. She took extra care to make her eyes look as smoky as she could manage without overstepping that "tramp" line, and kept the rest of her makeup light. She slipped on her dress and accompanying jewelry, which was fairly plain - Troy's locket he had given her, which made the dress have a somewhat urban feel to it, and a brass bangle with black gems embedded in it. Overall, she was quite pleased with the look.

At six o' clock she made her way downstairs. Troy was picking her up at quarter past, and they were going to meet Taylor and Chad at the restaurant. Despite this, Gabriella forced herself to repeat a mantra in her head: _It's not a double date, it's a birthday celebration._ She said it over and over in her head, hoping eventually it would sink in to her heart.

She slipped on a black wrap and stood in the foyer, waiting to see Troy's headlights. She had just seen a truck pull up in the driveway, and had one hand on the door knob when she heard a voice.

"I thought you said you were sleeping at a girlfriend's house?" Maria Montez questioned, eying her daughter's outfit. "This must be quite the sleepover. In my days, we wore pajamas, not gowns."

Gabriella turned around, surprised to see a smirk on her mother's face instead of a glare, or a grimace of disapproval.

"We're going out to eat first, for my birthday. In fact, I better be going..." she stopped when she heard a knock on the door. _Figures he would be a gentleman,_ she thought bitterly. If this wasn't going to blow her mom away, nothing would. She straightened up her back, preparing herself for the Spanish Inquisition she was sure she would have to endure, and opened the door.

Troy Bolton stood on the steps, looking slightly unsure of himself. Dressed in black dress pants and a dark blue button down shirt, he looked..._edible,_ Gabriella thought dreamily. He was holding a single red rose in one hand, twirling it around on his fingers.

"Wow, you look...I mean...wow." He stumbled over his words, handing Gabriella the rose.

_This is how it's supposed to be! _Gabi thought excitedly. _The first date, the rose, him not being able to describe how pretty he thinks I am...it's like a movie._

They stood there staring at each other for a moment before Maria cleared her throat.

"Oh, right," Gabi said hurriedly. "Troy, this is my mother, Maria. Mom, this is Troy Bolton, a friend from school."

The two shook hands and Gabi's mom continued to wear her smirk, almost as if she was laughing on the inside at the scene that played out in front of her.

"We better get going." Gabi said as soon as Maria opened her mouth to say something.

"Well, have a good time tonight. I'm not sure if I'll be home tomorrow, Gabriella, so..."

"Yup, I'll see you when I see you, got it!" Gabi called back as she was already on the front steps, almost dragging Troy behind her.

"It was nice meeting you!" Troy shouted, about to get in his truck when his manners kicked in.

The drive to the restaurant wasn't spent in awkward silence, like Gabi had feared it might. Instead, the two talked about inconsequential things, their specialty. They talked about the upcoming holidays and how excited they were, and Gabi got to know a little bit more about Troy's extended family, as he explained who went where for Christmas.

The drive was ended far too early for Gabriella's liking, but she had to laugh when she saw Troy practically run in front of his truck in order to open her door for her. He was being such a gentleman, knowing exactly what to do or say, that Gabi had to ask.

"Do you do this often?"

"Do what often?" He looked confused.

"You've got this whole date thing down to a T, Troy Bolton." She immediately blushed when she realized what she had said. "Not that we're on a date! I mean, I know, it's just a birthday celebration, but I meant, like, picking girls up and opening doors and stuff, and oh god, you must think I'm the biggest dork right now, don't you?"

Gabi looked up into Troy's eyes, as they had stopped walking by the end of her tirade, and Troy was just standing there, looking down at her with that special smile of his, the one he reserved only for her.

"I think you're beautiful." He said, and leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. He then took her hand and proceeded to walk them into the restaurant, neither commenting on the shiver that ran up both their spines as Troy guided Gabriella, his hand on her bare back.

Chad and Taylor were already sitting down when they arrived, both of them looking great. It was funny, to Gabriella, how different people look outside of school. Chad's hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, somehow making him seem much older, aided by the all black ensemble he wore. Taylor had put effort into straightening her hair, something that she rarely did for school, and wore a bright red strapless dress.

"You look _so_ pretty, Taylor!"

"And so do you! That dress was a great choice. What do you think, Troy?"

He coughed a little, and then said in a somewhat strangled voice, "She looks amazing."

After that, dinner passed by with little incidence. Gabriella found herself immensely enjoying the camaraderie she experienced with these three people, feeling more at ease than she could recall. _I was so worried for nothing,_ she thought as she watched Chad feed a bite of his manicotti with Taylor. She was slowly coming to terms with the fact that her friends were normal, average teenagers, and she could, if she wanted to, become one, too.

With that last thought, Gabriella allowed herself to be swept away in the conversation, which had quickly turned to a debate about the movie they were going to watch after dinner.

"That's a bogus scale, Chad!" Taylor laughed as she shot down Chad's method of measuring a movie's worth. Instead of one to ten, he had devised a scale using movies instead of numbers.

"It's completely legitimate!"

"It isn't if no one has any idea what's on the scale except for you." Taylor countered, but Chad laughed it off.

"Well, I admit, had it been a scale that only I knew, that would be silly. But, c'mon, Troy uses it, too!" Troy nodded.

"I sure do. In fact, I think the entire basketball team uses it now. It's expanded from being used only to rate movies, though."

"What do you mean?" Asked Gabriella, speaking up.

"Like, for instance," Troy turned to Chad, "Chad, on a scale of 'Garden State' to 'History of Violence,' how would you rate Sharpay Evans?"

Chad slid a look at Taylor.

"Aren't I going to get in trouble for this?" Taylor just shook her head and shrugged, fed up with the crazy scale her friends were using.

"Jumanji." Chad responded.

"That turns into Chad thinking she's a 4, on a scale of one to ten." He translated to Gabriella, who just shook her head, siding with Taylor on the issue.

"You think 'Jumanji' is better than 'Garden State'?" She asked, unbelieving.

Troy and Chad shared a look.

"Chicks." They said together.

-

It had been decided on, over gelatos, that the movie they were to watch would be the first of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. The girls relented that seeing Orlando Bloom in tights would be well worth the rest of the movie, and the boys rejoiced at the thought of battle scenes, not just the gunfights they were accustomed to in their usual movie choices. And, Taylor pointed out, it meant that they were all going to have to do this ritual again - two more times, in fact - because they just _had_ to watch all three movies together.

With that decided, they got the check from their waiter, and prepared to leave. When Gabriella opened up her wallet though, she was met with confused eyes.

"What are you doing?" Chad asked bluntly.

"Um, paying?" She responded, not sure if it was another one of Chad's jokes or not.

"It's your birthday, Gabs!" Taylor reminded her, but she was still confused. So she didn't have to pay?

"It wouldn't be right to let the birthday girl pay for her own dinner." Troy whispered in her ear.

"Consider it my gift to you." Chad said as he slipped a wad of cash into the check. Gabriella was astounded - all their meals were pretty expensive, it was, after all, a really nice restaurant.

"But, aren't you already paying for Taylor? Here, just..." She started to hand over some cash to Chad, but was stopped by Troy, who promptly took the money out of her hand and put it back into her purse.

"It's a gift, girl!" Chad laughed as he called the waiter over to take it.

"But it was-"

"Was a nice thing to do." Troy spoke over her, then leaned in. "And you wouldn't want to hurt his feelings and not accept his gift, would you?"

Accepting defeat, Gabi turned to Chad.

"Thank you, Chad. So much. Really."

"Hey," Chad said, cutting off her soon-to-be rant. "Ain't no thing. Happy Birthday, Gabriella."

----

After dinner, they made their way to Taylor's house. Troy and Chad got changed into some of Chad's clothes that he had left at Taylor's, and the girls got into their pajamas, or boxers and a tank top in Gabriella's case.

They all surprised themselves by actually watching the movie. It was pretty low key, minus Chad and Taylor sneaking occasional kisses in, and Troy and Gabriella gradually moving closer and closer together, brought together by Chad's subtle cough that sounded suspiciously like, "put your arm around her."

As the credits rolled on for what seemed like longer than the actual movie, Troy and Gabriella sat Indian style across from each other, thumb wrestling and answering questions.

"Favorite candy?" Troy asked as he tried to maneuver his strong thumb around Gabriella's surprisingly spry one.

"Swedish fish. You?" Her thumb narrowly evaded capture once again.

"Peanut M&Ms."

"Buttered popcorn or kettle corn?" Gabriella bit her lip as she struggled to keep her elbow touching her thigh.

"I've never had kettle corn, so I'll say buttered."

"What?!" Gabriella squeaked, looking up at Troy. He took this opportunity to squish her thumb, earning him a slight push from her. "You've _never_ had kettle corn? Why not?"

He shrugged. "Mom never bought it, I guess."

"It's so good. Next movie night, I'll bring some."

Troy smiled at her. "I'm looking forward to it."

Tearing her eyes away from his face, Gabriella glanced at the clock.

"Ohmigosh, it's already past one!" They had returned fairly late from the restaurant, and the movie had ran longer than anyone had anticipated. "Should we, you know...?" She gestured towards the sleeping forms of Taylor and Chad, who were wrapped up around each other, looking peaceful.

Troy sighed. "We better, or else Chad's dad will throw a tantrum. He doesn't mind when we come in late, but I think he might have a problem with us not coming home at all."

"Ah, so you're sleeping there tonight?"

He nodded, and then snuck around and lightly shook Taylor. Her eyes fluttered open, and she was clearly confused as to where she was.

"Troy?!"

"Shhh!" He hushed her, gesturing to Chad. "Wake him up!"

Taylor huffed, but woke Chad up nonetheless.

"C'mon man, it's past one, we better get going."

Troy left them to say goodbye, and made his way back to Gabriella.

"So did you have a good birthday?" He asked sincerely.

"The best." She replied, equally sincere.

"Here," Troy said, motioning for her to lay down on couch, atop his recently vacated spot. She did as he asked, and he tucked her in, making sure she was snug. "You all set?" He asked to a stationary Gabi - she couldn't have moved if she wanted to, he wrapped her up so right.

"Goodnight, Troy." She yawned, her eyes already starting to drift shut.

"Goodnight, Gabi." He responded as he placed a lingering kiss on her forehead, and left.

------

The next morning, Gabi found herself making homemade Belgian waffles with Taylor and her mom, June. June was just as funny and sassy as Taylor was, making it quite apparent as to where she got those traits from.

"So I noticed _someone_ was here until quite late last night, _Taylor_." June said with a smile, flicking batter at her daughter.

"_Yes_, mother. I noticed that, too, actually." Taylor rolled her eyes at Gabriella.

"I'm just saying..."

"Get ready for this, she loves this part." Taylor whispered to Gabriella, and proceeded to mouth word-for-word everything that her mom said.

"You know how much I love Chad, and I think he's a great boy, but don't make me tell you the story about the cow and milk again." Taylor smiled with satisfaction as she finished her mother's tirade in sync with her, but her mouth dropped open as her mother continued.

"So when you and Chad decide that you're ready for sex, I want you to know that I'm here for you to talk with about it."

Taylor looked up at her mom, mortified.

"Didn't see _that_ coming, did you?" Her mom said with a feisty grin, and then turned to Gabriella with a wink. "She loves to think that I'm so predictable, but I can be as spontaneous as the rest of them."

Gabriella laughed out loud at this, and found herself, once again, envying Taylor's family. Her and her mom were so close and had this special bond, one that Taylor treasured, she could tell. Taylor's mom was close without being overbearing, and actually gave out great advice that would come in handy, unlike her own mother. Her mom was pretty smart, too. Anytime Taylor would spout off a proverb, or say a little unknown fact about boys, or life in general, Gabi would ask where she heard it from. It had only just occurred to her just now what Taylor meant when she replied with, "A June bug told me."

Not allowing herself to dwell on the moment, Gabi made the most of the rest of her time with Taylor and her mom. While cleaning up the den area where they had slept, Gabi quietly asked Taylor where her father was.

She told Gabi that she didn't know - he had ran out on her right after she was born, and her older sisters were from a previous marriage, so she had never met her father. She went on to explain how proud she was of her mom for never giving up and being the strong woman she was today. She said that she didn't like to bring it up in front of her mom, because she knew how upset she got, but her mom never withheld information from her. She never tried to hide who her father was, never tried to discourage her from seeking him out, never even really talked bad about him.

Gabi was in awe at the idea of a mother like June.

June embraced Gabi before Taylor left to drop her off at home, hugging her tightly.

"Come back anytime you want, dear. Even if Taylor's not around, it'll be good to see you. Promise me you'll be back sometime soon?"

Gabi giggled and nodded. "Promise."


	6. Christmas Time Is Here

**A/N: Ok, so after fighting with to let me post the last chapter, I spent plenty of time writing this. I know it's not that long, and a lot of it seems somewhat frivolous, but I tried to use most of it to just show interplay between Troy and Gabi. Also, some of you might recognize a part of of one of their conversations from a book, **_**Sloppy Firsts**_**. Just borrowed though, thought it would make it a little funny. (If I failed miserably.. just let me know.)**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer ; Don't own it.**

It was Sunday night, and Gabriella found herself still thinking about Taylor's mom. She wanted so badly to have the kind of relationship that Taylor & June had with her own mom. She knew it was terrible, but she kept imagining what June would've done if she was her mom and had been through the same situations as Maria had been through. Gabriella was in the middle of trying not to fantasize about a different mom, because it only served to make her feel guilty in the end, when her cell phone rang. She grinned when she saw Taylor's picture pop up on the display.

"Hello?"

"Hey Gabs!" Taylor was always in a good mood, it seemed.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing really, just wondering if you would actually do me a favor?"

Gabriella was curious what _she_ could possibly do for Taylor.

"If I can, I will. What do you need?"

"Physics help! I can't read my own handwriting and left my book at school, so I was wondering if maybe you could help me out with some of the last equations we went over in class?" Taylor sounded innocent enough, but truth was, she called Gabriella just to talk. She had missed having friends that were girls, and although she wouldn't trade Chad or Troy for the world, last night and that morning had reminded her of what it was like to just _talk_.

They went over physics for almost a half hour, when the conversation started to deteriorate from equations to what _exactly_ Mr. Cooper's toupee was made out of.

In between laughs, Taylor remembered.

"Oh! Gabs, my mom wanted to know if you wanted to maybe come over for dinner sometime? She says she misses having girls running rampant in the house ever since my sisters went to college. She really likes you, too."

"Oh, of course!" Gabriella was delighted with the prospect. "You're mom's amazing, Taylor. She's really funny and I can tell you look up to her."

"Yeah, well, we didn't always get along, but now that we do, life is so much better. But I'm sure your mom's great, too. I can't wait to meet her!"

Gabriella sighed. She was wondering if that would become an issue, but she decided to take the plunge and just tell Taylor.

"Nah...I mean, my mom...well, she can be nice, but the truth is she's never really home." Gabriella said quietly.

"Really?" Taylor's voice had dropped down too, getting ready for a serious conversation. "Where does she go?"

"Well, work mostly. I mean, that's why she always gets transferred, she works really hard. But she goes out drinking a lot, and then she comes home late after that. And even when she is home..." Gabi trailed off.

"What?" Taylor asked, concerned.

"We just don't talk is all. I mean, I can't remember the last time I had a civil conversation with my mom, let alone a talk like you and your mom have."

"Really?" Taylor almost didn't believe it. "Why don't you guys talk?"

"Just...something that happened in the past." Gabriella sighed. "It sucks, actually. I never really noticed how bad until I saw you and your mom."

"Well, maybe she'll get over it now that you're both getting older?"

"I don't know...it just seems like she'd rather be anywhere in the world except here, with me."

"Come on, you know that's not true, Gabs. A June bug told me that when you have kids, you give each one of them a part of your heart, and you can never get it back. They will always have that love, and couldn't get rid of it if they tried."

Gabriella smiled at her friend's attempt to cheer her up, although the knowledge that it came from, as she had dubbed June, a "real" mom, sort of made her more sad.

"Thanks, Taylor."

"That's what friends are for, Gabs."

They talked for about an hour longer, and after they hung up, all Gabriella could hear in her head was Taylor's voice, saying "that's what friends are for."

She went to sleep with a smile on her face, something that was happening more and more frequently.

----

Gabriella's life was going _good_. She had never thought she'd be able to say that after her father died, but it was quite clear to anyone who saw her now that plenty of things she never thought would happen were happening.

She had an almost-boyfriend, Troy Bolton, who just happened to be the star captain of the basketball team at East High, a best friend, Taylor McKessie, who was finally someone who would understand (and commiserate!) about the hardships of AP classes, and a boy that she had taken to looking at as a brother, Chad Danforth, who always knew exactly what to say to make her smile.

It was the first week of December, and the winter weather was starting to make it's way into Albuquerque.

"Does it ever snow here?" Gabriella asked Troy as he was driving her into school one morning.

"It can, but it hasn't in a couple of years. Usually melts by midday anyway, though." He slid her a glance. "Does that count as a question?"

"No! I was merely curious as to the climate of this particular region, and that was something I could've asked anyone. The questions I ask you are very specific to Troy Bolton."

"Okay then, fire away."

Gabriella loved the fact that she never ran out of questions for Troy, and that she constantly got to learn about him. Sure, sometimes it was random, trivial information, but Gabriella never forgot one bit of it, and neither did Troy.

"Favorite holiday album?"

"Would it be wicked lame of me to say The Carpenter's Christmas album?" Gabriella laughed and shook her head. "It's just that my mom plays it around the holidays _constantly_, and she has ever since I can remember. Anytime I hear that album, I'm just reminded of home."

Gabriella was constantly in awe of this seemingly insensitive guy in front of her, who revealed more and more layers of himself everyday.

"What about you?" He asked. "Just _please_ don't say Christina Aguilera's holiday album..._please_."

"_Actually,_ I was going to say the soundtrack the the musical 'White Christmas.'"

"Phew," Troy said. "I just hate how Christmas gets so commercialized every year. Like, how every new pop star uses a Christmas album to boost their sales. It's so frustrating."

"I know exactly what you mean!" Gabi almost shouted, excited that she had found someone who shared her view. "Especially when they redo _classics_ that sound absolutely _nothing_ like the original, and they just add in all their fancy vocals and ooh's and ahh's, and soon enough they're singing songs that have barely any reference to Christmas at all, and just mention presents, or snow in them!"

"Yes!" Troy agreed vehemently. "I love Christmas, but I hate how fake it can get. Like, fake Christmas trees depress me to no end."

"How about those ridiculously shiny silver fake plastic trees?"

"Unnecessary!"

They had pulled into the school parking lot and were getting out of his truck, continuing their conversation, which was serving to rile both of them up.

"I _hate_ fake Christmas trees, but it's even worse when people spray them with glitter. Or fake snow."

"Exactly!" Troy practically jumped as they were walking up the steps to East High. "Christmas used to _mean_ something, and now it's like one big pissing contest. You know, see how much money you can spend, who gets the best gift, whose parents waited in line the longest..."

"It's like nothing's real anymore! I used to get so excited to get Christmas cards in the mail, but now, I get them, and someone just hurried up and wrote their name on the inside, underneath the mass produced greeting."

They were inside now, in front of Gabriella's locker, which remained to be opened. They were just facing each other, almost shouting as they got more and more into the conversation.

"And people who hire personal shoppers to buy their kids gifts? It just..."

"_Defeats the purpose_!"They said together, grinning.

"You two realize you're freaking people out, right?" Chad popped up beside them, indicating the hallway full of people, almost all of them staring at Troy and Gabriella's heated conversation. Gabriella blushed and turned towards her locker.

"Sorry, man, just got into the moment, I guess." Troy said, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, a sure sign of his discomfort. Chad just laughed.

"You two are _perfect_ for each other." Gabriella's blush deepened and Troy didn't respond. Oblivious to their feelings, Chad continued. "Anyway, I'm just heading to Taylor's locker. See you in homeroom." And he was gone.

Gabriella finished up at her locker and walked with Troy to his in awkward silence.

"So," she started lamely, unsure of what to say to diffuse the situation.

"So, you need to stop riling me up, Gabi." He joked, lightening the mood substantially.

"I will if you will, _Troysie_." She smirked as he looked up with wide eyes. "What, didn't think I'd find out about the cheerleaders endearing nickname for you? I want a nickname for you!"

"First: Troysie is not endearing, it sounds like they're calling their pet poodle when they call me that. And second: you have a nickname for me, Wildcat, remember?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm sure every girl calls their b-" she paused, catching herself as she went to call Troy her boyfriend. "...friend that. Friend. Friend that's on the basketball team. You know what I mean."

_What am I doing?! _she silently admonished herself. _Trying to freak him out before first period? 'Cause that's totally what's happening. He'll probably back off if he even gets an idea that I think we're boyfriend/girlfriend. That'll be a fun talk... 'Sorry, Gabriella, I have no idea whatever gave you that idea, did I say something that sounded like 'would you go out with me?'' Gosh, he probably hates me now..._ Her mental tirade was interrupted by Troy's arm around her shoulders.

"So," He started to walk down the hallway, arm still firmly in place. "I know this guy that would _really_ like for you to look over his English homework, to make sure he didn't confuse his three types of irony."

"Oh yeah?" Gabriella smiled up at him as they walked. "Too bad, I don't know anyone who would want to do that for him..."

Troy let his arm slip off Gabriella's shoulder and down her arm so that they were holding hands, him stepping in front of her and blocking her way, making her stop walking.

"Hmm, that's too bad." He said, taking a step forward so that they were only inches apart. They were looking into each others eyes, slowing inching together, when a door slamming down the hall brought them back to the present. Flashing Gabriella a brilliant grin, Troy snatched the notebook out of her other hand and took off down the hallway. Gabriella stood there, wondering what had almost happened.

"Hey!" Gabriella shouted, realizing what he had done, "Give that back, Wildcat!"

----

"I'm home!" Gabriella called as she walked into the house on Friday night after hanging out with Taylor for a couple of hours after school. Troy and Chad had a basketball game that night at a different high school, so Taylor and Gabriella decided to forego it and hang out by themselves.

Gabi didn't get a response when she yelled, yet her mother's car was in the driveway, so she started peering into rooms, looking for her. She found her in the kitchen at the table, pouring over documents spread out in front of her.

"Hi, mom." Gabriella said curtly. They still weren't on the best of terms.

"When are you going to stop treating me like I'm the wicked witch of the west?" Maria Montez questioned as her daughter briskly walked by the table to the fridge, pulling out a can of soda.

"When are you going to start acting like a real mother?" Gabriella shot back, surprising herself even. It wasn't that she didn't mean it, it was just that she had never spoken to her mother like that before.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It _means_ that until you start talking to me, I'm not going to talk to you."

"That's ridiculous Gabriella, I talk to you all the time, you're the one that shuts me out of your life! Why, I barely know a thing about this Taylor that you're always with, and I haven't seen Troy since that night in November, although I know you must see him still, too."

Gabriella was outraged at her mother's blindness.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" She shouted. "You haven't shown an interest in my life for the past 7 years, why would it start now? You're never home, or if you are, you're drunk, you can barely stand to be in the same room as me, and you wonder why I don't want to talk to you? When's the last time you asked me how my day was, or what I did in school?" Her mother couldn't answer that, which fueled Gabriella more.

"I'm sick and tired of you picking and choosing when to be my mother! Newsflash, mom: I'm your daughter _all the time_, not just when it's convenient to you!"

"I didn't raise you to talk to me like that!" Maria shouted, standing up at the table.

"You barely raised me at all! Dad was the one who did the 'raising,' you were just there. So, no, I don't think you're the 'wicked witch of the west.' You're much, much worse." Gabriella turned to walk upstairs, tears falling freely from her eyes.

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" Maria Montez screamed, her voice trembling. "I have been there for you through _everything_, young lady. I have been your mother ALL THE TIME, not just when it's convenient, because newflash, Gabi:" She sneered, throwing her daughter's words back in her face, "having you as a daughter is _never_ convenient!"

"You don't _deserve_ me!" Gabriella yelled. "Dad always called me a _gift_! He said that he thanked God everyday for me, and that I was the best thing to ever happen to him. Who are you to say that I'm not 'convenient'?!"

"Your father's not here, Gabriella!" Maria screamed so loudly that Gabi's stopped crying out of pure shock, she had never seen her mother like this. "I _am_ here, and I am left to deal with you, so you know what? LIFE'S NOT PERFECT, GABRIELLA."

Gabriella shook her head furiously.

"I wish you had died instead of him!" She shouted, instantly regretting it. She took a step towards her mom, and reached out. "Mom, I..."

She stopped talking as her mother's eyes reached her own. She looked cold and stony, and her face looked as though no tears had been shed at all.

"Me, too." Her mother said in a voice that sent chills up and down Gabi's spine. With that, Maria Montez turned around, grabbed her coat and purse and stormed to the dorm.

"I'm going out. There's food in the fridge." She said without turning around.

She walked out of the door, slamming it behind her, and Gabriella collapsed on the stairs, sobs wracking her body.

-

She had eventually made it upstairs to her room, curling up in a ball on her bed and continuing to cry. She was sobbing so hard that she was coughing, unable to get enough air in. It had been over an hour and she was no closer to calming down than she had been when her mother had left. Looking at the clock, she picked up her phone and hit number 2 on her speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Troy..." She managed to get out in between sobs.

"Gabi? Hey, is everything okay?" Gabi shook her head, despite him not being able to see her.

"No, no, no...everything's wrong." She heard background noises and assumed that he was probably at the afterparty of the basketball game. She instantly felt guilty for calling him about something that was no concern of his.

"Hey, hey..." He said quietly, as the background noises stopped. He must've walked out of the room, she figured. "First thing, why don't you calm down, okay, Gabi? Can you do that for me?"

"Y-yeah." She took deep breathes and tried to stem the flow of tears. She was doing okay, the tears simply pouring out of her eyes rather than the heaving sobs she had previously.

"What happened, Gabi?" He listened intently as she told him most of the story of her night with her mom. She left out the part about her father, but otherwise stuck to the truth.

"I said some terrible things to her, Troy...but she was _so_ mean right back to me. I never thought she'd say stuff like that to me."

"And she's not _supposed_ to, Gabi. She's the adult here, not you. She's not supposed to result to low blows and insults." Troy was being so understanding through all of this. He had hung up on her previously, saying that he would call her right back, and he had been true to his word. He had left the party, said goodbye to his friends, and called her the instant he was on the road again, driving back home. They had been on the phone for over an hour now, trying to sort through things and make sense of her night.

"Do you think she's coming home tonight? Troy asked.

"No, probably not. Probably won't show up until Sunday night, I'm guessing."

"Ah, right. Well, listen, Gabi, I'm going to go now, I promised my mom I would help her with getting the decorations down from the attic, and if I don't get them down tonight, she'll be banging on my door at 5 a.m. tomorrow. But if you need _anything_, please call me, okay? I'll be here all night, I don't care what time it is. You should go and get some rest, babygirl."

"Babygirl?" She had to giggle.

"Shut up." Troy said lightly.

"Nah, I like it. It's sweet. But, I don't think I'm going to get to sleep anytime soon. Too many thoughts running through my head."

"Alright, well, I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Goodnight, Troy, and thank you...for everything."

"It was no problem at all. Goodnight, babygirl."

Gabi hung up the phone and flopped back down on her bed. She had actually felt a million times better after talking to Troy, although she did still feel guilty. She knew she shouldn't have said some of things she had said to her mom, but, thanks to Troy, she was now one hundred percent sure that her mom shouldn't have said _anything_ she had said to her. Troy was right, her mom was the grown up in the situation and should have handled it like a grown up - _like a parent, really, _Gabriella thought - and she had done no such thing.

She lay there for a while, mulling things over in her head, when she decided maybe all that crying really had tired her out. She got up to go to her bathroom and get ready for bed. She had just finished washing her face and brushing her hair, and had her bottle of pills in her hand when she heard a noise in her bedroom. Curious, she walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, not thinking to put the bottle down.

She was surprised to see Troy Bolton standing in her bedroom.

"You really should probably lock that thing." He said, indicating her French doors leading out to her balcony.

"How did you..?"

"I'm an avid tree climber." Gabriella laughed at this and went to brush a stray piece of hair from her forehead when she noticed she still had the bottle of pills in her hand. Quickly putting her hands behind her back, she looked expectantly at Troy.

Troy had noticed the bottle of pills but decided to not comment on it at that moment. She had already had a pretty rough night, and she didn't need an interrogation from him at that point. He decided to let it slide, but only for the time being.

"So, the reason you're standing in my bedroom is..." She trailed off, waiting for his reply.

"You just...you sounded like you were having a really rough night. I wanted to come over and see for myself that you were okay. Thought maybe we could talk some more, if you wanted."

Gabriella's heart melted at the sweet boy that stood before her. He had just climbed a _tree_ to see how she was doing, and here she was, standing there with no makeup on and questioning his motives.

"I'd like that." She smiled back at him. "Just let me change in the bathroom and I'll be right out, okay?" She turned to her bureau and grabbed a pair of boxers and a tank top, wrapping the pill bottle in them tightly, as to muffle the sound of the shaking bottles.

She retreated to the bathroom and proceeded to have a mental freakout.

_Oh, god, what if he saw the pills? Would he even want to still be my friend? I know I'll have to tell him eventually, but please, Lord, don't make it be right now! I'll do _anything, she thought frantically. She poured herself some water and almost spilt it all over herself when Troy knocked on the door.

"You okay, Gabs?"

"Yeah, I'm fine... be out in a second!" She called back, swallowing her pills and changing as fast as she could. She gave herself a good look in the mirror, realizing that there was nothing she could really do to help herself, as she had already spent the entire night crying. She took a deep breath and opened the door to her bedroom, only to find Troy sitting on her bed, waiting patiently.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he straightened up, waiting for her to make the first move.

She walked over and sat on the bed next to him. She didn't say a word, just sat there next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, letting out a sigh. Troy just sat there, waiting for her to talk when she was ready.

"It must be pretty frustrating, huh?" She finally said, not moving from his shoulder.

"What is?" Troy asked softly.

"Me. I mean, you don't know much about me, but here you are, coming to my aid." She sighed. "I just don't know why you do it."

"Hey," Troy pulled back, turning to look at her. "Look at me," He implored, gently tilting her face to look at him. "You are an amazing, funny, overall great person. I came here because I care about you, and I hate seeing you sad. I came here because that's what friends do. Okay?"

She nodded slowly.

"Besides," he continued. "I know more about you than you think."

Her heart quickened at the thought of the pills. _Did he see them? _But her worries were cast aside when he continued.

"Every time you open your mouth, I learn more about the real Gabriella. The Gabriella that would never be mean to anybody, the Gabriella that knows how to cheer up even the saddest of people, and even the Gabriella that, yeah, may be a little bit afraid to become friends with someone, but makes a damn good one herself."

Gabriella's eyes filled up at this, but before Troy could ask what was wrong, she threw herself at him, wrapping him up in a hug.

"Thank you, Troy." She whispered.

"Anytime." He whispered back.

-

They sat together and talked for a long time, until Gabi realized that he should probably get home if he wanted to remain ungrounded.

As Troy was about to climb over the balcony - despite Gabriella's insistence that he could just use the front door ("_I need practice!"_ he claimed) - he stopped.

"Gabi, if you're not doing anything tomorrow...or today, now, I guess," He laughed, as it was after midnight. "Why don't you come over and hang out at my place? You could help decorate the Christmas tree, if you want." He looked up at her hopefully.

Gabriella managed a nod, while on the inside she was dancing.

"I'd love that, Troy."

With a wink and a promise that he would call the next day, he was gone.

**A/N: next up: Decorating with the Bolton's, and a surprise from Darbus!**


	7. Merry Christmas, Darling

**A/N: Okay, so not only do I apologize as much as humanly possible for the shortness of this chapter, as well as the length of time that passed before I posted it, but I promise that the next chapter is in the works and will be posted within a few days at most. I can't thank you all enough for the amazing reviews I received. Also, Happy Holidays! The holidays for this East High gang are coming, I promise, and I'd hate for them to be so far away from real life, so that's another reason I'm working extra hard on getting the next couple of chapters out. Anyway, enjoy!**

Gabriella straightened out her shirt one last time before Troy showed up to get her. Her outfit was modest, just jeans and a v-neck sweater with blue and grey stripes. She was wearing ankle high grey boots for a little bit of extra confidence. It was approaching six o' clock, and she was borderline terrified of going to visit Troy's family. She knew that they were great people - just about everyone at East High thought so, but Troy had warned her that his dad might be a little standoffish, as he was always on the lookout for something that could distract Troy from basketball. But he reassured her that his mom was looking forward to meeting her, and that maybe even Chad and Taylor were going to stop by to decorate a little bit, too.

She heard a honk from outside and took a deep breath before continuing down the steps and out the door. She finally made her way outside, and got into Troy's truck, flashing him a nervous smile. She immediately started to study her hands, thinking about the impending inquisition she would probably undergo. She finally realized that the truck wasn't moving, and she looked up at Troy, questions in her eyes.

"Is everything okay, Troy?"

He seemed to study her for a bit, before releasing a brilliant smile.

"Don't be nervous, Gabi."

"Easy for you to say," she muttered.

"They'll love you. How could they not?" His voice oozed sincerity and Gabriella once again found the butterflies in her stomach starting to fly about.

"I just want them to like me." She said softly, fixating on her hands once again.

"Hey," he said, gently lifting her chin so she looked him in the eyes, "I am telling you right now that you have nothing to worry about. If you ever feel uncomfortable, just let me know, okay? And I'll try to help." He waited for a response patiently.

"Okay," She nodded.

"Promise you'll tell me?"

"Promise."

"Okay then, let's go." And with that, he pulled out of her driveway, making his way to his house, a few blocks away.

When Gabi noticed no one was on the streets, she asked Troy to slow down a bit.

"Is everything okay?" Concern laced his voice.

"Yeah, yeah...it's just-" she blushed, avoiding his gaze. "I just like to look at all the Christmas lights. When you live in the city, like Boston, or San Francisco, you don't get much of a chance to see all these houses decorated like this. It's just apartments. They're beautiful." She finished quietly.

Troy had to work hard to maintain a stoic face, when on the inside he was melting for the girl in his passenger seat. She was so sweet and innocent, not to mention brilliant and charming, yet she was always somewhat insecure of herself. He was glad that he was slowly breaking her out of her shell - she still got embarrassed sometimes, and he could tell she felt a little self conscious at her giddiness for Christmas lights, but he was glad that she could tell him that at all.

He shook himself out of his silent reverie and slowed the truck so that they were barely rolling along. The sun was still setting in the distance, but dusk had made it dark enough so that Christmas lights were continuously flashing on up and down the streets.

"So does your house look like _that_?" She questioned, gesturing to an obscenely ornately decorated house, with so many lights that it was hard to guess what shape the house underneath it all was.

"Nah," He shook his head. "My mom's a fan of the 'less is more' attitude. We haven't done the inside yet, but the outside just has some icicles and nets over the bushes. She even shot down the idea of an inflatable snow globe."

They shared a laugh over this, having had many conversations on Christmas after their initial bonding experience, and had both decided that inflatable Christmas decorations were just _ridiculous_.

They chatted amiably as they pulled up to his house. Just as Troy had said, his house was decorated in a simple yet beautiful way. Icicles dangled from the roof, the bushes in the front were evenly covered with lights, and there were two animatronic reindeer in the front lawn. It looked gorgeous. Simple, yet festive.

Gabriella became transfixed with the lights, not making a move to get out of the truck, nor to say anything to Troy. She was trying to prepare herself mentally for the upcoming awkwardness. Finally, before she realized it, Troy was standing at her door, opened, with an outstretched hand to help her out. Taking a large, somewhat shaky breath, Gabriella took his hand and followed him to his house.

-

Whatever she was originally nervous about, the memory was gone a half hour later as she sat at a stool in the Bolton's kitchen, laughing and chatting with Troy's mother, Lucille. They had sent the men to go do the heavy lifting - mainly, getting the tree and the ornaments out of the attic. The remaining two girls had proceeded to bake Christmas cookies, and were currently waiting for them to finish baking, and were making friendly conversation in the meantime.

"Troy tells me you've lived all over the place, like where?" Lucille Bolton had a way of making people feel at ease around her. She had immediately assessed Gabriella's nervousness, and didn't want to pry, especially since Troy made it clear that while Gabriella was coming out of her shell, she was still a very private person. She had slowly worked into a somewhat personal conversation, learning a lot about the young girl that sat in front of her.

"My mom's company moves around all the time, and it used to really suck- I mean, I'm sorry." Gabriella blushed at her blatant rudeness. "I just mean, it wasn't really fun for a girl growing up..." Lucille smiled.

"I can only imagine. I moved once when I was fifteen, and it _royally_ sucked." She had instantly made Gabriella feel better about her language.

"Well, it's not that bad anymore. I mean, I'm getting to travel and see loads of different places that a lot of kids my age wouldn't be able to say they did. But still..."

"How long are you planning on staying here, Gabriella?"

"My mom says 'til I graduate, but, you never know. I would hate for her to give up a great work opportunity because she felt obliged to me." _As if that would happen_, she thought bitterly, recalling their argument.

"Well, you'll always have a home with us, okay?"

Gabriella blushed and nodded, and all the jealousy that she had felt towards Taylor's mother, June, was rushing back towards Lucille Bolton.

The conversation disintegrated after that, with the two decorating the cookies in festive colored sugar, decorating one cookie that was shaped as a ball, for an ornament, presumably, as a red and green basketball. Gabriella hadn't even realized she had done it, but the finished product caused both her and Lucille to laugh.

"That's an interesting ornament, Gabriella." Lucille smirked.

"I didn't even notice I'd done it! Do you think Troy will like it? Or is it too cheesy?" She was blurting this out faster than fast, causing Lucille to smile even wider at the young girl who had captured her son's heart, and clearly he had captured hers as well.

"I'm sure he'll love it. But, if you're not sure, you can always eat it yourself..." Before the words had come out of her mouth, Gabriella had shoved the entire cookie into her mouth and was chewing furiously, red and green sugar stuck to her lips. Lucille Bolton couldn't help but laugh at the sight before her.

"I was _kidding, _sweetheart!" Gabi's eyes widened and she stood there like a deer in headlights, her mouth full. The sight caused Lucille to laugh even harder, eventually making Gabi laugh, causing green and red sugar to spew out of her mouth as she tried desperately to chew and swallow, and not die in the process of sugar inhalation.

And that was how Troy and Jack Bolton found them a minute later - both laughing hysterically, Gabriella turning slightly red from the cookie in her mouth, yet seemingly unable to stop giggling.

Troy turned to his dad, smiles gracing both of their handsome faces.

"_Told_ you we shouldn't have left them alone!" His dad only shook his head at the scene in front of him, as Troy left his side to get Gabriella a glass of water. She took it gratefully, finally managing to get the cookie down and wipe the sugar from her lips. Troy leaned forward, wiping stray sugar from her cheek, gazing down at her with a look of pure adoration. The two parents, sensing the moment, excused themselves from the room quietly.

"You're a little spitfire, you know that, Montez?" He couldn't tear his eyes from hers, as they danced in the light seemed to sparkle.

"Learned from the best, Wildcat." She grinned up at him, vaguely wondering what she had even been nervous about in the first place. Troy was wonderful, it wasn't any wonder that his parents would be the same.

And, it was just like any book she had ever read had described it. The lights in the room seemed to dim slightly, everything except Troy became a little unfocused. And, slowly, ever so slowly, Troy's head began to lower, bringing his lips closer and closer to hers, until...

The doorbell rang, and the two sprang apart.

"That must be Chad and Taylor," Troy said, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck. Gabriella just nodded in response and followed him mutely to the door to welcome them in. _What just happened_? she asked herself. _We almost kissed. He almost kissed me. And...and I think I wanted it to happen. Why did the doorbell have to ring?!_

Troy was right, it was Chad and Taylor, along with Sharpay and Ryan Evans, Zeke Baylor, and Kelsi Nielson.

She heard Chad mutter to Troy, "Sorry about Sharpay, but you know how she can be... like a pit bull with a bone, man. Would _not_ let it go." Gabi heard the regretful note in his voice and knew he felt genuinely bad about bringing extra people, probably due to Gabriella's hesitancy to new people. But, Gabi decided to make the most of her newfound good mood. She quickly grabbed Taylor, Kelsi and Sharpay, telling them she had just finished making cookies with Lucille, and they were still hot from the oven. The four made their way into the kitchen, grabbing stools, cookies and milk.

"So, Gabs, you and Troy finish decorating before we even got here?" Taylor asked conversationally.

"Haha, yeah _right_. It took him and his dad the past forty minutes to get all the decorations out from the attic. But, you know how Troy can be," she continued, as the boys walked into the kitchen. "Like a pit bull with a bone." She tossed a wink to Chad, who let out a huge grin, knowing he was caught but not really caring.

The gang continued eating and laughing with each other, giving Gabriella an overwhelming sense of family that she hadn't experienced in a long time.

"Gosh, Gabriella...are you sure you didn't go to a summer baking program like I did? These cookies are phenomenal!" Gabriella blushed under his praise, but managed to find her voice.

"Well, thanks, but I swear, it was all Mrs. Bolton's work. I'm just responsible for the sugar, that's it."

"Speaking of what Mrs. Bolton's responsible for," Lucille said as she made her way into the kitchen with a smile. "I was under the impression that if I baked some cookies, that I'd get out of the tedious job of hanging ornament after ornament on the tree."

With that, the kids jumped up and started to file out of the kitchen into the living room, with Chad stopping midway and reaching back for the plate of remaining cookies.

"For the road." He deadpanned as he walked by Mrs. Bolton, who was just shaking her head.

-

The gang soon got into the swing of things. Sharpay quickly took the job of orchestrating what would go where, yet not making a move to pick up a single ornament. She flashed the girls a grin as the boys did exactly as she told them to, not even questioning her.

Chad complained that it was too quiet in the living room, and despite Sharpay's insistence that she could easily perform a song from her repertoire, Troy made his way to the stereo on a bookshelf and turned on some Christmas carols. He gave Gabriella a wink when she realized that it wasn't just any Christmas CD, it was The Carpenters. Chad protested for about half a second before Taylor could smack him upside the head, saying that she enjoyed The Carpenters as well.

"_Merry Christmas, darling, we're apart, that's true. But I can dream, and in my dreams, I'm Christmasing with you."_ Gabriella's sweet lilting voice was tiny as she sang to herself as she hung ornaments, marveling over some of the homemade ornaments Troy had made when he was younger. She didn't notice it when someone came up behind her.

"Hey, you sing really well." Sharpay said in the same tone as she said everything: it was fact, non-disputable.

"Oh, thanks." Gabriella said shyly, not used to compliments.

"You're not going to like,... try out for the spring musicale, are you?"

"Who, me?" Gabriella asked, shocked that Sharpay could even imagine her doing something like that. At Gabriella's nod, she almost laughed at the absurdity of that statement. "No, no, no. Don't worry. Performing isn't my thing, you don't have to even consider that."

Sharpay mulled it over for a moment, before realizing that it was true, Gabriella didn't really have the performing personality that both her and her brother possessed.

"Oh, alright then." Her perky voice was void of any suspicion that had previously been there. "In that case, you really do have a great voice. Maybe you should do the talent show?"

Gabriella just shook her head and laughed, clearly Sharpay didn't get it when she said that she wasn't a performer. She couldn't imagine herself getting up in front of the whole student body and singing alone, it frightened her to no end.

Saving her from responding to Sharpay, Chad called across the room. "Hey, isn't the talent show supposed to be bogus this year? I heard no one signed up." He was sitting in a corner, trying to get the knots out of a particularly kinky roll of garland, but it was so twisted around him, it was hard to see if he was making any progress at all.

"_I'm_ in it!" Sharpay turned to Chad, clearly offended. "Does it really _need_ anybody else?!"

"I'm in it, too." Ryan's voice came from somewhere underneath the tree, as he was tightening the tree into it's stand to prevent it from wobbling precariously, as it had been earlier.

"Yeah, well, you two are _always_ in it." Chad said, seemingly oblivious to the garland that was strung all around his neck and body. "I just mean that usually there are more volunteers. We can't have a talent show if it's just you two, no offense."

Sharpay instantly latched onto this idea, of course.

"Ooh, maybe it can just be the Sharpay and Ryan Show! We could make it into a variety show, and we could sing all different types of songs!" She continued talking to herself as she wandered off, clearly dreaming up the possibilities she could take advantage of.

Gabriella turned to Troy, who was hanging ornaments beside her.

"Is the talent show a big deal at this school, or something?" She asked, and Troy shrugged.

"Not really. Generally people just go to make fun of everyone in it. It's always packed, you definitely want to make sure you buy your tickets in school and not at the door." He slid her a glance then turned towards her. "Wanna come with me?"

"Gee, I don't know..." She said, appearing to be pondering. "I might have something really import- yes. Yes, I would love to go." She said, making Troy laugh out loud.

"Great! It's usually like, the third weekend in January, and it really is someth-" He was cut off by a loud muffled scream.

"Mmff mmprrff!" They looked over to the area of the scream, only to see a huge pile of garland where Chad used to be.

"Taylor, I think your boyfriend needs you," Troy stated dryly.

Taylor looked up from where she was reading the instruction booklet for the small, toy-sized electronic ice skating rink she was setting up in the corner. She looked at the garland masquerading at Chad and let out a huff of air.

"Honestly, Chad," she exclaimed, getting up and making her way over to the boy/garland. "You would think the garland has a mind of it's- _AAAHH!" _She screamed as the garland reached out and grabbed her around the waist, making her fall into the pile and soon get smothered in it, too. Troy and Gabriella just shared smiles at their friend's antics, and turned back towards the tree, ignoring the muffled _moans_ now escaping from the garland pile.

-

"My best work ever." Sharpay proclaimed as the gang took a step back to admire the finally-finished tree. It looked good, Gabriella had to admit, even though she had never thought that Christmas tree decorating could be considered an art by anyone's standards.

"Looks good, kids." Jack and Lucille meandered into the room, taking their surroundings in. The garland that had once attacked Chad and Taylor was now evenly hung over the bookshelves and the staircase banisters throughout the house. Taylor had set up the animatronic ice skating rink without a flaw, and tiny toy humans were now gliding over it peacefully. The tree itself looked great, "considering it has so much handmade shit on it," in Troy's words. The handmade ornaments were barely noticeable, in Gabriella's opinion, not that it mattered. She had never made any ornaments in school, and even if she had, she doubted her mother would allow her to put them on their Christmas tree. Gabriella's tree had always looked impeccable - almost _too_ good, if you were to ask Gabriella. It looked as if they had just brought it home from Macy's or some other equally perfect place. The ornaments were always color coordinated, evenly placed, and there was no room for mistakes, according to Maria.

Gabriella looked at the tree, seeing the reindeer Troy had made out of a light bulb, or a large tacky ornament of two penguins kissing, which read "Our First Christmas." Gabriella thought the tree was homey, and it just made her love it all the more.

"I think it looks great." She said decidedly.

Troy looked at her and saw her gazing lovingly at the tree. Out of pure instinct, and nothing else, Troy slipped his fingers in between hers, interlocking their hands. Gabriella looked down, surprised, but then turned her attention back to the tree, giving his hand the barest of squeezes.

"For all your hard work, we've got eggnog and cola in the kitchen, as well as three dozen more of those Christmas sugar cookies you seemed to like so much." Lucille said, and quickly moved out of the way, as Chad barreled past her in his haste to get to the kitchen.

"For _everyone, _Chad! The cookies aren't just for you!" Taylor quickly followed her boyfriend, pausing briefly to pat Lucille on the shoulder, comfortingly.

"I'll control him, Mrs. Bolton." She said and made her way into the kitchen.

To Gabriella's surprise, and chagrin, many of the ball-shaped sugar cookies were now decorated as festive basketballs.

"Wow, Mom, you've outdone yourself." Troy commented as he followed Gabriella to the kitchen's island. He continued to hold her hand, as well as snag a basketball cookie.

"It was actually Miss Gabi's idea, here, to decorate them as basketballs."

"I didn't see any in the last batch." Chad said in between bites.

"Me neither." Troy noted.

"Well, it's a proven fact that they taste better than the regular ones, so I just couldn't help myself." Gabi teased, leaning into Troy.

"Oh, yeah, Montez? They were so good that you couldn't even manage to eat them in different bites?" With that, he stuck a whole cookie in his mouth, biting the edge. Gabriella, surprising bother him _and_ her, leaned up and bit the remaining cookie that was hanging out of his mouth with a small "hmph!"

Their lips brushed briefly, as Troy was now left with the smaller part of the cookie, and Gabriella couldn't believe what she had done. She busied herself with munching the rest of the cookie that she couldn't see the knowing glances exchanged between the other members of the group, save for Troy.

_Does that count as a kiss? _She asked herself, terribly confused. _It wasn't a real kiss. It was a lip brush. It was a brushing of the lips. Nothing too serious. Nothing serious at all, actually. No need to overanalyze, no need at all._ She managed to convince herself after a while, eventually getting back into the swing of conversation once Troy had squeezed her hand reassuringly.

The rest of the evening passed by without incident. No lip brushes, no shoving entire cookies into her mouth, no nothing. Which is why Gabriella was confused as to why she felt a little disappointed.

The group disbanded at around ten o' clock, after watching _Elf_ with Troy's parents. Gabriella and Troy were waving their friends off, hearing Chad answer his phone with, "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?" and a resounding _thud_, signifying Taylor's instinctual hit.

"Well, missy, better get you home." Troy said with a smile. Gabriella nodded and yawned. It turned out that stressing over an event was just as tiring as the event itself.

After saying goodbye to Mister and Mrs. Bolton, Gabriella climbed lazily into Troy's truck, and managed to make it the entire ride home without falling asleep.

Troy walked her up to her front door, and stood their nervously.

"So, I'll see you on Monday, okay?" Troy shifted his weight from one foot to another, unsure of what to say. Gabriella was just as uncomfortable, not knowing if it would be appropriate to kiss him, or not to kiss him, or what he expected at all.

"Yeah."

"And you can call me anytime you want to, okay? Call me when your mom gets back from...wherever she is." Gabriella just nodded, her mood slightly dampened by thoughts of her mom.

Troy could almost kick himself when he brought up her mom and Gabriella's smile faded. _Why did you do that, you idiot?_ He asked himself.

"Yeah, of course." Gabriella replied on autopilot. With that, she leaned up and kissed his cheek, and proceeded to go inside. Troy retreated to his truck, asking himself how he could've been so stupid as to bring up something as bad as that when saying goodnight.

---

Monday morning came too soon for Gabriella. As she made her way downstairs, per her usual morning ritual to grab a can of juice, she noticed a pair of her mother's sneakers at the door. _So she came home last night._ Gabriella thought miserably. She was already gone at that hour in the morning, and Gabi couldn't help but feel a slight sense of relief knowing that she wouldn't have to deal with her right then and there.

She got ready fairly quick, her mind elsewhere. She was wondering how she was going to deal with her mother, when she was going to see her, what she would say, if she should apologize. She remembered what Troy had said, though.

Gabriella quickly resolved that she wasn't apologizing for anything she had said until her mom apologized. She, after all, was the adult, and she was responsible for Gabriella. _Whether she likes it or not, _Gabi thought bitterly.

-

The early bell rang, and Gabriella shut her locker only to find a Mr. Troy Bolton leaning next to it.

"Why good morning, Miss Montez." Troy's voice instantly soothed Gabriella, and she pushed thoughts of her mother far far away.

"Hey there, Wildcat. How was the rest of your weekend?" Troy slung an arm around Gabriella and put his head close to hers.

"I'm going to tell you a secret," he whispered conspiratorially, "But my days _sort of _suck whenever I don't get to see you."

Gabriella blushed and giggled at his compliment.

"Well, I wouldn't want to be responsible for any bad days, now would I?" She whispered back, and Troy shook his head. "So, how about, next time, to prevent either of us from having a bad day, we make it a point to see each other. Even if it's just for five minutes. How's that sound?"

"That sounds, Gabriella," Troy said as he straightened back up, but kept his arm draped across her shoulders. "Like the best idea you've ever had."

They walked into homeroom like that, pulling apart when Ms. Darbus cleared her throat, a stern frown on her face displaying her displeasure at their public display of affection.

Gabriella slipped into her usual seat in front of Chad, and beside both Taylor and Troy. Before she could turn to Taylor and ask her a question on their Trigonometry homework, Ms. Darbus cleared her throat again, much louder.

"Attention, attention, my fellow thespians." Her voice rang out.

"Thespa-whatas?" Chad asked quietly, making Taylor and Gabi giggle.

"It has come to my attention that this year's talent show has a distinct _lack of participation_."

"Who's surprised?" Chad muttered. "You won't see me getting up their and getting made fun of, that's for sure."

"That's because you do plenty of _other_ things to get made fun of, isn't it, Chad?" Taylor turned around and asked, a teasing grin on her face

"Quiet back there!" Ms. Darbus yelled. "Now, while several options have been presented to me-" Sharpay noticeably sat up straighter, fluffing her hair, winking at Zeke. "I assure you there will be _no_ need to cancel the show." A chorus of groans echoed throughout the room.

"Maybe you didn't hear me, but I said there was _no_ need, ladies and gentlemen." The class stared back at her, astonished that she didn't understand their general apathy towards the talent show.

"So it's my pleasure to announce-"

"We'll do it!" Sharpay stood up, smiling widely. "We'd be _happy_ to do our own variety show, Ms. Darbus!"

"_Do_ sit down, Ms. Evans!" Sharpay sat down, albeit somewhat confusedly. "As I was saying, I will not be canceling the show. In fact, I think this will be the best show in the history of East High!"

The class perked up somewhat, curious as to what she could do that could possibly improve the show.

"It is my pleasure to announce that the East High Winter Talent Show is now mandatory for all of my classes, including my homeroom!"

The class was silent, until...

"Are you _kidding _me?!"


	8. Love Is Like A Holiday

**A/N: Sorry again for the long wait! I'm still trying to figure out how to juggle my life. I take online college courses and have a full time job and it's all just a little hectic, especially because I love to read and write, and I get super cranky when I don't get to do either, haha. Anyway, this chapter's not that long, and the next one's not going to be either, really, but after that they'll get longer, trust me.**

**And finalllllly ---- this goes out to reviewer: bombastic-banter because her review made me so incredibly happy and inspired me to finish this chapter up. thank you doesn't seem quite adequate, but seriously - thank you for all you said.**

**-**

"I assure you, Mr. Danforth, I am quite serious regarding this matter."

"That's _torture_!" Chad's outraged voice caused the entire class to nod in agreement. "I mean, can't the entire Drama Club just do stuff? Why _us_?"

"The Drama Club is very busy memorizing their lines, songs, and dances for the spring musicale. I will not ask them to do anything that will interfere with that!"

"She's lost her mind," Chad muttered as Darbus continued to give out instructions, what kinds of acts were acceptable, et cetera.

Gabi's eyes were wide. She turned to Troy, fear evident on her face.

"I don't know how to perform anything! I don't even have any talents!"

Troy leaned over and cupped her face with is hands.

"Of course you have talents, Gabi. You heard Sharpay, you could sing! You're an excellent singer." Gabi shook her head sadly.

"You don't understand, Troy," she said softly, "I'm just not good at getting up in front of people. I don't have that kind of courage." She blew out a huge breath. "I can't believe she's making us do this!" She looked away from Troy's eyes as Ms. Darbus continued making announcements, louder.

"...And group performances _will_ be allowed, but they have to be approved by me beforehand."

"That's perfect!" Chad whispered loudly. Troy, Gabriella, and Taylor turned to look at him. "We can use Sharpay! We can just be background to whatever extravagant thing she's planning... she'll probably have us, I don't know, holding props or something. But we could _totally_ work that out." The four of them got slight glimmers of hope on their faces. Maybe they wouldn't have to do something too humiliating after all.

"Is that okay, Mr. Danforth?" Ms. Darbus interrupted their thoughts, and Chad could not for the life of him remember what came before her question. Not wanting to get caught for not paying attention, he straightened up in his char.

"Yes, that is completely correct, Ms. Darbus." He said in a loud, over-confident voice, making the class giggle.

"Alright then, you heard the boy, he will be taking sign ups at lunch and free period for the rest of the week."

Chad's jaw dropped, and once again.

"Are you _kidding_ me?!"

-

Taylor, Gabriella and Troy decided to keep Chad company while he sat in the cafeteria during free period and lunch, in charge of a large table with glittery signs adorning everywhere.

It was fairly miserable at first, but Chad quickly used his humor and positive attitude to turn the sign-ups into an enjoyable experience. He flipped his favorite _Elf_ line ("Buddy The Elf, what's your favorite color?") into a catch phrase for all those that approached the table.

"Chad the thespian, what's your favorite way to be humiliated?"

The gang was soon laughing and chatting and looking over the list of acts and performances that people were going to be putting on. All four perked up as Sharpay approached the table to sign up.

"Sharpay!" Chad exclaimed, immediately arousing suspicion in the blonde. He was never that excited to see her. _Never_.

"Yes...?" She busied herself writing both hers and Ryan's name down with a flourish.

"Well, we were wondering, you know, if you needed any help with your performance for the talent show?" Gabriella and Taylor nodded eagerly in the background, Troy simply looked disinterested. He could always find _something_ to do for the talent show, after all.

"_Why?_" She asked suspiciously.

"Because we would love to help you!" Taylor piped up.

"Yeah, and you know, anything to help you win first prize, of course!" Gabriella said with pseudo-enthusiasm. Sharpay still gave them wary looks, waiting for one of them to spill the beans as to why they wanted to help her.

"And..." Chad wavered under her gaze. "We want nothing more than to not do the talent show, so if it would count as a group performance, we are totally in."

"Ah-ha!" Sharpay practically yelled, attracting attention from nearby tables. "I _knew _you were up to something."

"So, what do you say?" Chad was hopeful, but Sharpay was a curious creature to him, and he really had no idea what she would be doing.

"I say..." She trailed off with suspension. "Sorry! I already have plenty of help with my performance, as the Drama Club can't put on performances of their own, they're forced to help their beautiful President put on the best show that she possibly can!"

"There's _nothing_?" Chad was incredulous. How many people were there in Drama Club, anyway? Taylor and Gabriella just sighed with defeat.

"Nah, everything's pretty much taken care of. I've got me little Zekey-bear if I need anything extra." Everyone cringed at her pet name for Zeke. "Besides," she continued, "I can't wait to see what you come up with on your own." And with that, she turned on her heel and left, presumably to find Ryan. Or her Zekey-bear.

"We're doomed." Chad let his head fall forward on the sign-up sheet. "Doomed!" He wailed.

"Well, we don't have to come up with anything solid until after Christmas break. Hopefully we can come up with something awesome by then." Troy said, trying to get everyone's spirits up. Noticing their glum faces, he sighed. "Come _on_, guys! Christmas break starts this weekend. Let's not worry about this, and let's just have fun!"

Chad slowly lifted his head off from the table and turned to Troy.

"You're right, bro. Christmas is practically HERE!" He shouted, although no one in the cafeteria paid him much mind - Chad was _always_ shouting.

"Exactly." Troy said with a nod. "So what do you guys say, let's just not worry about this until we have to, okay?"

Gabriella nodded, "Okay, fine."

Taylor was a bit more hesitant. "I don't know guys, I don't like not having a plan."

"We _do_ have a plan!" Chad said as he got up and knelt on the ground, as she sat on the ledge of the stairs. "Our plan is to not think about it!" Taylor laughed and looked at her pleading boyfriend.

"Okay, but after New Year's, we make some decisions, deal?"

"Deal!" The rest of the group responded, and Chad got up and kissed her square on the mouth.

"You are the best negotiator, ever, Mr. Danforth." Taylor managed to say as Chad kept on kissing her. The rest of the lunch period passed by with the gang doing just as they promised - not thinking about it.

-

Not thinking about it became harder and harder as the week wore on and, since Chad was assigned sign-up duty, the four of them found themselves constantly bombarded by people asking what _they_ were doing for the talent show.

"How does everyone know what they want to do? It's like they've been thinking about this for a while, now. If they've been thinking about it, why didn't they just sign up in the first place?" Chad grumbled as the gang and him took down the posters advertising the sign-ups around the cafeteria. They were going to have to be hung after Christmas break, it seemed, but the janitorial staff was adamant they took them down. The gang didn't really mind, well, except for Taylor, as they were missing the first ten or so minutes of their class following lunch.

"Hurry up, Chad! They've probably started taking notes in Physics by now! Gabriella and I don't want to miss them!" Taylor was hurriedly rolling the posters up as the boys and Gabi got them down from the wall.

"Hey, don't bring me into this," Gabriella laughed. "I don't like Physics that much. And _besides_," She continued at Taylor's incredulous stare, "it's the last day before winter break! I doubt he's going to be giving us any crucial information. Don't worry about it!"

She turned and smiled at Troy who was on a ladder at the bottom of the stairs, getting some of the higher posters off the wall. Troy tossed her a small wink, causing her to blush as usual.

"So," Troy said as he turned his attention back to the task at hand, "you guys are still coming over for movie night tonight, right?"

"Sure thing, bro, although Taylor and I might be a little later than usual - we got to stop at my grandparents house, they want to give us gifts or something." Troy nodded.

"Gabi?" He asked.

"Hmm, I don't know," she said teasingly, as he climbed down the ladder to glower at her. "I might be hanging out with my _other_ friends..."

"Oh **really**?" Troy's mouth twitched upwards, as if he was fighting a smile.

"Yeah, well, you know," she started to back up slowly as Troy advanced on her, "they said that _their_ movie night might have mushroom pizza at it, so..."

"Mushroom pizza? Are you really swayed so easily?" Troy continued to walk towards her, he was only a few feet away now.

"Of course not!" Gabriella said, mock-offended. "They also have Swedish Fish and apple cider and..."

"That's it!" Troy growled as she ticked things off on her fingers. He made a run for her and she squealed and started running away, down the set of stairs adjacent to the ones he had just came up. He followed her as she booked it, laughing the entire way. He finally caught her and picked her up by her waist, twirling her around.

"Put me down, Wildcat!"

"Are you coming tonight or what?" He asked, continuing to spin with her in his arms.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming!" She managed to get out between her peals of laughter.

"And _why_ are you coming, Montez?" He placed the dizzy girl down right in front of him, turning her so she was looking at him.

"Because you always have caramel popcorn?" She asked with a flirtatious grin. Troy put his hands over his heart and staggered away.

"That hurts, Gabriella, it really does. Here I am, thinking you come over for the wonderful company, when in reality, you just want me for my caramely goodness." Gabi giggled and approached him, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"If it helps, caramel popcorn ain't got _nuthin_' on you." She said with a nod.

-

Gabriella practically floated into her house after school that day. How could it be that life actually went this great? She thought she was in a movie or something, and she had already overcame the biggest obstacle in her life, her father's death, and now all that was left was...happily ever after. In retrospect, it was a bit naive, for Gabriella to think that just because her father died that she wouldn't have any more hardships. It became glaringly obvious that there were still more trials and tribulations coming her way as she barely got three steps into her house, and she saw her mother.

"Mom?" Their relationship hadn't gotten much better, it was tenuous if anything. They had managed to get over their fight though, and now they didn't shout at each other, but they seemed to be at a standstill. Each one waiting for the other to either apologize or make some sort of effort to augment the deteriorating relationship.

Still, Gabriella's mother was not the type to take off of work early at all. Ever. Gabriella freaked, tons of thoughts running through her head. Maybe something had happened to her grandparents? Maybe Gabriella's mom had come home to tell her to pack, and that they were moving?

"Are you p-p-packing?" Gabriella managed to get out, watching her mom drag a suitcase down the stairs. "Are we _moving_?" She whispered.

"No." Maria's voice was grave, as if they were doing something worse than moving. _But what?_ Gabriella wondered.

"What's going on then? Where are you going?"

"Honey," Maria started as she made her way forward with her suitcase in one hand and a duffel over her shoulder. "I have to go away."

"Okay." Gabriella worked hard at schooling her face to show no emotion. On the inside, she was raging, but on the outside, she managed to remain calm. "Will you be back for Christmas?"

The question hung in the air for a few moments, neither women speaking.

"No, I can't make it back until the third."

"Of _January_, right?" Gabriella asked facetiously. Right now, she didn't care if her mother came back on the third of next December.

"Yes, Gabriella. And I expect you to be very mature in my absence."

"Don't worry, I'll clean up after the keggers." Gabi started to storm off, unbelievably upset with her mother.

"I know you're upset with me, Gabriella." Gabi paused midway on the stairs, but didn't look back, listening to her mother. "But this is a very important business deal for me. The money will be...astronomical for us. It'll make all the difference."

Gabi scoffed as she stood on the stairs. Due to her mother's many business trips, and many "important deals," money had never been an objective to the Montez household.

"You're getting an amazing gift this year for Christmas, Gabriella..." Maria tried to buy her way into Gabriella's heart, desperate for the girl to turn around and say that she understood. And Gabi did turn around, but not with words of understanding.

"_Gifts_?! You think I give a damn about Christmas _gifts?_! You really don't know me at all, mom." Maria went to open her mouth and try to diffuse the situation, but Gabi was too quick. "Don't bother. Merry fucking Christmas." And with that, she ran up to her room.

-

She lay on her bed, tears unable to come, for about twenty minutes before she heard a cab pull up in front of the house. She heard her mother yell goodbye up the stairs, and something about the fridge being stocked and money that was transferred into her bank account for while she was away. As Gabi watched through the window curtains, saw her mom smiling and laughing with the cab driver as he put her bags in the trunk, that was when tears came. She slunk to the ground beside the window and put her head in her hands and cried.

Christmas was her favorite time of the year. She loved the spirit everyone got into, the sparkle in little kids' eyes, buying presents for the people she loved...and now it was all ruined. She had hoped so desperately that this year would be the best yet. After all, she had friends! She had people that she bought gifts for, and who probably bought gifts for her, too! It was something Gabriella did not take lightly. And now, the mere meaning of Christmas was tainted. Christmas was all about family. Granted, she knew her mother never was a huge fan of Christmas, and they could hardly be called a family lately, but still, Gabriella never thought her mother would just leave her to fend for herself on Christmas.

-

Gabriella wasn't really herself the entire movie night at Troy's. Not only did Troy notice, but so did his parents. Lucille urged Troy to discover why exactly she was so melancholic, but Troy was having a hard time just getting Gabriella to talk to him at all, let alone about anything that was really personal. Finally, Troy couldn't take it anymore. Zeke and Sharpay were feeding each other popcorn, making Troy nauseous, and Taylor and Chad were playing Wii Tennis with each other, much to Taylor's delight - she had finally found a sport she was better than Chad at!

"Gabriella," He started.

"Mmm?" She said, not looking up from the back of the DVD cover she was reading.

"Will you please tell me what's wrong?" She looked up sharply at him.

"Nothing's wrong, why would you ask that?"

"And why would you lie to me?" Troy's blue eyes sought out her own chocolate. "C'mon, you can tell me anything. I just hate seeing you in this funk. Talk to me."

"It's nothing, it's just..." Troy nodded to have her continue. "My mom went on a business trip." Troy nodded, her hurt making sense to him.

"She goes away a lot, it's true. But Christmas brings everyone together! You two will spend the day together and hopefully get a lot of stuff cleared up."

Gabriella shook her head softly. Troy just didn't understand.

"Troy, she's gone until January third." She whispered.

"_What?_" Troy practically shouted. "What do you mean?" She shrugged.

"She left earlier this afternoon. Said that she'd be gone for Christmas and New Years, and, ugh, to not care so much because _she got me a really nice gift_." Gabriella's voice held clear disdain for that statement. She wasn't materialistic and was hurt that her mother even thought that something nice would be a good replacement for her during the holiday season, even if they were fighting.

"Gabi, Gabi, Gabi," Troy said as he gathered her into a hug, her little frame getting enveloped in his larger one.

"The entire holiday is ruined now, Troy," she whined into his shoulder. "I know it's pathetic, considering I don't even like her, but I really wanted her to be here for Christmas."

"Hey," he said, pulling away. "It's not pathetic at all to want to spend the holidays with someone you love." He thought for a second, then pulled away. "Speaking of which, I'll be right back. Can I interest you in some more apple cider?"

Gabi laughed and nodded, giving him her empty cup. As he left the room, Gabriella marveled at just how sweet the boy could be. Sure enough, everything Gabi had mentioned as a joke that afternoon had appeared at his movie night. Caramel popcorn, Swedish Fish, mushroom pizza, and even apple cider. It meant more to Gabriella that she could ever convey to Troy, that he had taken that much initiative to get things she had only mentioned in passing. Grabbing a handful of Swedish Fish, she sat back against the couch and thought that even though her mother was doing a great job at ruining her holiday, Troy was doing an even better job at making her feel better.

-

"I just can't believe it!" Troy exclaimed, pouring some more apple cider for Gabriella in the kitchen.

"Shh!" Lucille Bolton admonished her son. "But that is terrible. What kind of mother just leaves her daughter alone on the holidays?" She turned her gaze to Jack.

"Hey, don't look at me. Just because I'm not shouting about it doesn't mean that I'm not disgusted, too. That's terrible parenting right there."

"I just feel so bad, mom!" Troy ran his fingers through his hair. "She's been through so much already, and I know how much this holiday means to her..."

"Well, I'll be damned if I let anyone ruin it for that sweet girl." Troy looked up at his mom, she never got that riled up.

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

"I _mean_, that, if your father agrees, of course..." Lucille slid a glance at Jack, "We should invite her over here for Christmas. No one deserves to be alone on Christmas."

Jack merely shrugged his shoulders. "Not like we don't have room. With everyone else up visiting Aunt Gladys in Omaha, it's going to be a quiet Christmas here anyway."

"It's settled then! Troy will go ask her and she'll spend Christmas here, with us."

Troy took a couple steps towards the hall leading to the den, when he backtracked.

"We have a slight problem."

"What?" Lucille looked at her son exasperated.

"Well, it's just that, Gabriella's pretty stubborn. And she's really shy and underconfident, so I know that if I ask her she'll just feel like she's imposing and she won't want to come, and I'm just not sure if I can convince her." He paused, took a breath, and looked at his mom. "Will you ask her?"

Lucille just smiled at her only son, who was clearly falling in love with Gabriella. Her smile grew and she nodded. "Send her in."

-

"Here you go, Gabi." Troy leaned down and gave her the cup of apple cider.

"Thanks." She said, trying to force out a smile. It came out more like a grimace.

"Oh, hey, my mom wants to see you in the kitchen for a sec." He rushed when he saw Gabriella's shocked and suspicious glance. "Something about C-O-O-K-I-E-S," he whispered, pointing to Chad, who was jumping up in down, furious that his Wii bowling ball seemed to be curving for no reason at all.

Gabriella laughed at this, and got up, kissing Troy on the cheek as she turned to leave the room. _Why did I just do that?_ She asked herself. _Why?!_

-

Troy was practically pacing, waiting for Gabriella to get back from talking with his mom. Taylor finally got sick of Troy fidgeting in the background and gave him her wii-mote.

"Here. Take it. Burn off some energy, lunkhead."

Troy eagerly took the controller and continued to spar with Chad in Wii boxing.

Gabriella eventually returned to the room, amidst shouts by Troy and Chad.

"You are _so_ getting knocked out, bro!" Chad was practically lunging at the TV screen, trying to punch Troy.

"Yeah right, I see a TKO in _your_ future, fro-bro."

And sure enough, Troy managed to knock out Chad's character within moments.

Chad just shook his head in disgust.

"It's the background music, bro. It's all wrong. I need butt-kicking music in order to kick your butt."

"_Sure_," Troy taunted, wiping the sweat off his brow, "what exactly is 'butt-kicking' music to you?"

"You know, the classics! The Ramones, The Rolling Stones! Jesse And The Rippers!"

"Sweetie, you know Jesse And The Rippers weren't a _real_ band, right?" Taylor slipped an arm around Chad and spoke to him as if he were a third grader.

"They're making a come back." Chad deadpanned.

"I heard that, too, man!" Zeke called from the loveseat, laying there with Sharpay practically falling asleep on him.

"Smash Club here we come!" Chad high fived him, causing the girls to giggle and Troy to just look at Gabriella curiously.

"So," he started as he snagged Gabriella's apple cider and took a large gulp, "what'd you and my mom talk about?" He feigned innocence.

"You know, mister, any other girl would be upset that you talked about her behind her back." Troy gulped hard, feeling guilty, but managed a mischievous smile anyway.

"Good thing you're not like other girls." Gabriella laughed, a light melodic sound that eased Troy's worry that she might be mad at him. "So you're not upset?" He chanced.

"No," she said softly, looking up at him through lowered lashes. "I am glad you care enough about me to do something like that." She rested her head on his shoulder as Chad flipped through the channels. "And you have the best family in the world, Troy." She whispered, nuzzling his neck.

"Does this mean I'll see you Christmas morning?"

Gabriella nodded, breathing in Troy's scent, reveling in the way his arm fit perfectly around her shoulders.


	9. Scar

**A/N: Okay, so I know it's approaching mid-January and Christmas STILL hasn't happened, but it's coming. I promise. Hope you like this one!**

Gabriella knew it was pathetic, but she couldn't help herself. It was that Sunday, and Christmas Eve was the following night, and there Gabriella was, hanging some meager decorations around her house. She didn't have a tree - her mom and her usually went to get a live tree the weekend before Christmas, but since she wasn't there... Gabriella settled for garland adorning window sills, lights going up the banisters, and a wreath on the door. Just as Gabi was putting the last electronic candle in a window, her cell phone rang.

She grinned before even looking at the caller I.D. - Troy had his own special ringtone, and as Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" blared out of her cell's tiny speakers, Gabi could feel herself being filled up with warmth that she couldn't fully understand.

"Hello?"

"If only you knew how boring this was, Gabi." Troy moaned into the phone, preempted by nothing.

"It can't be _that_ bad, Troy." She giggled.

"Oh, it can be. And it is."

Troy was spending the day at a family friend's house, who unfortunately, couldn't have had a son or daughter his own age, but instead were a little behind on the family business. They had a three year old daughter, who adored Troy, and a 14 month little boy.

"It's not that I don't _like _kids, Gabs, that's not it at all, but," Troy paused to scold the little girl for putting her baby brother's fist in her mouth, "I just would rather be doing other things than watching kids on my Christmas break."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, it's only the second day of vacation, technically. So at least you got it out of the way, right?"

"Mmrph." Troy made a noncommittal noise. "What are you doing?"

"Eh, nothing too great, trust me." Gabi continued to move about the house, placing her pathetic hand-made paper snowflakes around the kitchen.

"Anything is better than what I'm doing here. I wish I was with you."

"You'd be bored," Gabi said in a taunting voice.

"You could _never_ bore me, Montez."

"Well, Wildcat, I never knew you loved hanging Christmas decorations that much, I'm surprised."

"Eh?" It took Troy a moment to grasp what she was saying. "You're hanging Christmas stuff in your house?"

"Yep." Gabi was distracted in her efforts to hang a snowflake from the ceiling.

"You're still coming to my house for Christmas, right?" A hint of panic edged it's way into Troy's voice.

"Of _course!_" Gabriella answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Good." Troy let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "I'm so excited for tomorrow night."

Troy was having a small Christmas Eve party, just the usual gang. He didn't usually, but since Troy's plans for a New Year's Eve party were ixnayed, he decided he'd take it where he could.

"You still bummed about not having a New Years party?" Gabi could read Troy's emotions, even over the phone.

"Nah," Troy lied, then thought better of it. "...Yeah, I guess."

Gabi let out a little laugh at the boy on the other end of the phone.

"It's just that this is out junior year! I wanted to have a supreme party. I just think the East High party is going to be filled with little kids and not that much fun."

Every year, East High put on a New Years Eve party for the kids, ninth grade and up. It was guaranteed to be safe, so parents felt good about letting their kids out, as well as gave parents a night to themselves. It was chaperoned by East High's finest anti-social teachers, and even though it wasn't the rager that some kids were accustomed to, it was pretty neat. Classrooms were devoted to different things - overhead projector screens used to display life size video games, the auditorium had karaoke, the cafeteria had tons of food and was the place where kids could set up camp when they wanted to settle down for the night.

Troy had never actually gone to the party. His parents usually took him away for a Christmas break, and he never gave it much thought. But, Taylor and Chad went last year and said it wasn't that bad at all, in fact, it was even a lot cooler than kids gave it credit for. Chad had hoped that the fact that it was at the school and not, say, Bali, would deter Sharpay, but ever since she and Zeke had started dating, Sharpay was slowly climbing down off her pedestal. They had decided in October that the group was going to spend New Years Eve at the East High party,

"I think I don't even care about New Years, I'll be happy to spend it with you." Gabi said sincerely, effectively shutting Troy up.

"Hot cocoa with or without marshmallows?" Troy instantly reverted back to their question game, and Gabi gave up on hanging up her snowflakes, and made her way to the couch in the living room. She flopped down and devoted all of her attention to the adorable boy she was talking to.

-

It as almost six p.m. and Gabriella was no closer to choosing an outfit than she had been at two o' clock that afternoon, when she had started to stare at her closet, hoping the perfect outfit would just jump out at her.

"What am I doing?!" She shrieked to herself, jumping on her bed, still staring at her closet. She wanted something festive, but not exactly a santa suit. She had plenty of clothes, she just couldn't decide what would give the best impression. She let out another shriek as she glanced at the clock. The time! What was she doing? Troy would be there a little past six, and she was in a bathrobe. She had already done her hair in long, flowing curls, and did her basic makeup - unable to do much in the ways of eyeshadow without knowing what she would be wearing.

Finally, with another shriek of frustration, Gabriella grabbed an outfit that she felt screamed "Not Trying Too Hard...At All." It was a cowl neck chocolate brown sweater from Victoria's Secret, that had a tie around the waist and went down a couple inches past her waist. Since it was still fairly nice outside - mid fifties - she just slipped on some white shorts and threw on some chocolate brown matching Ugg boots. She proceeded to do her eye makeup in light creams, in order to make her own natural brown eyes stand out. She gave herself a once over, and decided that, well...she could look worse.

She must have stood in front of them mirror for longer than she thought, because the next thing she knew, the doorbell was ringing. Making a run for it, she opened the door slightly out of breath.

"Hey, Wildcat." She managed to breathe out, with a huge smile on her face. She couldn't seem to make it go away when Troy was around.

"Hey there." He looked equally happy to see her. "You about ready? Chad and Taylor are already at my house."

"Yeah, of course!" She backtracked a few steps and grabbed her purse, then walked with Troy out of her house. She turned to lock the door, talking at the same time. "So this isn't like, a _huge_ thing, is it?"

Troy feigned innocence.

"_Me?_" His eyes widened. "When have I ever done anything huge?"

Gabi just giggled and rolled her eyes as they made their way to Troy's truck.

"You make me nervous, Wildcat." Gabi said with a smile, teasing Troy. He opened the door for her and bowed as she got in.

As he closed the door, he threw Gabi a wink.

"I get that a lot."

-

Gabi felt slightly better when they pulled into Troy's driveway and only his parents car and Chad's jeep were there. Noticing Gabriella's large exhale, Troy had to snicker.

"I told everyone to park on the street over."

"Jerk!" Gabi scoffed and pushed him lightly as he went to open his own door, causing him to stumble as he found his footing on solid ground.

"I meant to do that." He said over Gabi's laughter, only causing her to laugh harder.

They made their way up to the door and Troy looked at Gabi.

"Ready?"

Gabi bit her lip and nodded.

"Ready."

He opened the door and it was like the spirit of Christmas had exploded in Troy's house. There were far more decorations than there had been the last time, and the smell of pine needles and sugar plums hung in the air. Gabriella breathed deeply, taking it in.

They made their way into the kitchen, where Chad, Taylor, Jason, Zeke, Sharpay, Ryan, and Kelsi were all sitting down.

"Is this it?" Gabi asked as she shot Troy a sideways glance.

"Pretty much, Gabs. I'm not as hugely massively incredibly popular as you think I am," he said as he popped his collar, looking smug.

"Oh, please," Gabriella laughed as she smoothed out his collar. "I was under no such delusion! In fact, I was only being your friend out of pity."

"Oh _really?"_ Troy laughed along with Gabi's joke, secretly pleased that she was able to take herself so lightly nowadays. She was really becoming more and more comfortable with everyone and herself, and it showed. The true Gabriella was coming out more and more everyday, and Troy loved every part of the discovery process.

"Well, in that case..." Troy slipped on a face of slight disappointment. "Some of the other guys from the basketball team will be dropping by later, but now I'm wondering if it was out of pity, too." His wounded voice almost - _almost _- made Gabriella feel bad.

"What about you guys?" Troy asked, turning to the group in the kitchen, mingling around the table and the island, munching on snacks. "Are you guys only my friends because you pity me?"

"Yeah."

"Pretty much."

"Mmmhmm."

"Obviously."

"Of course."

Troy turned to Gabriella, still standing in the doorway.

"Look what you started. I have no friends now."

Gabriella stood on her toes and whispered in his ear, "I'll _always_ be your friend, Wildcat," and proceeded to kiss his cheek and make her way over to the rest of the gang.

She grabbed a handful of pretzels and looked over at Troy, still standing at the doorway and giving her a curious glance. She shrugged and let her eyes drift upwards, to the mistletoe hanging above Troy's head.

Troy could've kicked himself - hadn't he placed that there himself (and in every other doorway) so he could finally gather the courage and a reason to boot, to kiss Gabriella?

Shaking his head at his sheer stupidity, Troy followed Gabriella's lead and walked into the kitchen, trying to get into the swing of the conversation.

"So, what are you getting for Christmas, Gabs?" Taylor asked.

"I have no idea. I bet it's something I don't even need," Gabriella sounded genuinely disinterested at her prospect of a gift.

"That's the point of gifts, girls. To get things that you don't need and that expensive and extravagant." Sharpay's wisdom was somewhat lost on the girls.

"_Or_," Kelsi stepped up to the table, "it's about giving and sharing and doing both of those things with love."

Sharpay blew her off with a flick of her hand.

"That's just what parents say when they want to excuse really shitty gifts."

Kelsi clenched her fists, but didn't respond, as she knew it was neither the time nor place to actually teach Sharpay how to be decent.

"Anyway," Gabriella rushed on, "are your sisters coming home, Taylor?"

"They were home for like two days, and now they're at their boyfriends houses for the holidays. My mom's here somewhere." She said, gesturing wildly to the large Bolton household.

"Really?" Gabriella hadn't seen her since their sleepover, and wanted to say hi at least, and wish her Happy Holidays.

"The parents are in the living room, I think." Troy called to the girls, as he had meandered over to the kitchen table, talking animatedly with Chad and Zeke, Jason, and even making a real effort to keep Ryan in the conversation.

"Whose parents?" Gabriella asked, confused. Troy hadn't mentioned anything about parents.

"Not mine," Sharpay said with her usual air of superiority. "Daddy and Mother are in the Poconos. _So_ romantic."

"Oh, your parents aren't going to be here for Christmas, either?" Gabriella asked, feeling slightly better about herself. Sharpay just stared at her.

"Of _course_ they'll be here tomorrow. They're taking Daddy's private jet home first thing in the morning, so they'll be able to be home before we even wake up."

"Oh," Gabriella noted, crestfallen. Taylor elbowed Sharpay and gave her a glare that effectively shut her up.

"Well, my mom's in there, Chad's dad, Troy's parents, um, let's see..." Taylor looked around, trying to remember which parents showed up.

"Zeke's dad's in there," Kelsi reminded her.

"Ugh. I know." Taylor looked less than pleased at the mention of Zeke's father.

"What's up with his dad?" Gabi asked.

"It's kind of a touchy subject for Taylor..." Kelsi mentioned, but stopped at Taylor's look. Sharpay, however, either didn't receive a glare or didn't care, because she picked up where Kelsi left off.

"Taylor's just pissed because her mom's been showing a little too much interest in Mr. Baylor. Which," Sharpay turned to Taylor, "I don't even understand why you care so much. He's attractive, in an older-man type way."

"It's not _your _mom going on dates with him though, is it?" Taylor bit back.

"Ew, no. That'd be gross. Besides, _my_ parents are happily married."

"Not helping." Kelsi muttered.

"Is he really that bad, Tay?" Gabi asked softly.

"No," Taylor sighed. "In fact, he's really nice."

Sharpay threw her hands up, "I just said that!"

"They've only gone on a couple of dates and all, but still. I don't want my mom to get hurt."

"Well, maybe you should just be happy for her, at least right now?" Gabi suggested.

"I know I _should_, but still. What if they get married? Zeke and I will be, like, _step siblings!_" Taylor looked horrified at the thought.

"You'd get to see tons more of me!" Sharpay said, delighted.

Taylor's eyes widened at the thought.

"Let's not think that far ahead." Gabriella said quickly. "Are your parents here, Kelsi?"

The petite brunette shook her head. "Nah, they're visiting my grandparents in Santa Fe. They asked me to come but for some reason, this seemed much more fun. I'm beginning to doubt that." She slid a glance at Sharpay, who had left the kitchen island and was now comparing diamonds on her new necklace to those on her brother's hat, both of which had been bought by their parents.

"Yours has more, this is totally unfair!" Her voice drifted over to the other girls.

They giggled at the sight, shaking their heads.

"This isn't all that bad," Gabriella said, unknowingly glancing at Troy, who was throwing popcorn in the air and catching it in his mouth.

"Yeah, you're right," Kelsi smiled at Ryan, who looked totally helpless as his sister recounted diamonds. "Besides, anything beats my grandmother asking me when I'm going to turn twelve ever five minutes. It's like if you don't grow, you don't age in her eyes." She screwed up her face. "If she can even see me."

The girls laughed, and then decided to go see the parents, if only for a second.

"Hey, we're going to go say hi to your parents for minute, okay Wildcat?" Gabriella whispered in Troy's ear.

"We'll go with you." He said as he pushed his chair away from the table. "Besides, my mom has like, little gifts for everyone or something."

"Diamonds?" Sharpay asked giddily, her arms wrapped around Zeke.

"...No. No diamonds, Sharpay." Troy responded.

Sharpay just shrugged. "Maybe next year."

"Yes...maybe next year." Troy sounded absolutely bewildered.

-

The parents were all sitting down, drinking eggnog and having calm adult-type conversations.

"Man, are you guys _boring!_" Chad exclaimed as he swaggered into the room.

"And the barbarians have arrived." Lucille Bolton noted dryly.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Bolton!" Gabriella said as she rushed over and gave them each light hugs, which they returned.

"Merry Christmas, Gabi!" Lucille beamed up at the tiny girl in front of her. "Are you ready to spend a day enjoying the presence of two completely insane men and a woman driven to madness by them?" Gabi laughed whole heartedly.

"Of course I am!"

"Then I take it you're ready to eat your weight in Christmas dinner then, right?" Jack Bolton asked, patting his stomach in anticipation.

"Of course! I'm so excited for a homecooked meal, it's been far too long."

"This is something you will never forget," Jack commented, then leaned forward. "And just between you and me, I have been fasting for a solid week for this meal, only because I know it'll be a year before she cooks another!"

Lucille swatted her husband on the arm gently, and he leaned back and put his arms around her.

"Well, everyone grab a seat, make yourselves at home." Lucille urged, indicating the other couches and benches, although most of the kids opted to sit on the floor beside the tree.

_I will always remember tonight_, Gabi thought as she observed the somewhat organized chaos that was taking place in front of her eyes. Jokes and laughter were freely flowing, the adults were clearly indulging themselves on spiced wine and eggnog. The kids were ragging on their parents, eating their fill of brownies, Christmas cookies and other various snacks.

She tried to take it all in, but she had so many emotions in her body. She was slightly frowning, causing Troy to wonder.

"Let's go get some more chips." He suggested, as the bowl in the middle of the floor was frighteningly close to empty, and Chad was known to resorting to violence to get the last of anything.

"Sure," she said, getting up with the assistance of Troy's hand, and walked to the kitchen with him.

She leaned on the wall, watching Troy scrounge through his cabinets, eventually coming up with two bags of potato chips. Gabriella watched him do these simple actions, and was once again overwhelmed by emotions that she wasn't quite sure what to do with.

Shaking them off, she saw that Troy was done and turned to leave the kitchen.

"Gabi!" She stopped in her tracks, slowly turning around.

Troy put the bowl of chips back on the kitchen counter and made his way over to her.

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" Her eyes were huge, reminding him of Bambi.

"I mean that, I don't know...you seem to be having a good time but every now and then you just look sort of sad. Or worried. Or, I don't know...I just want to know what I can do." He finished lamely.

"You'll think it's stupid." She said quietly.

"Try me." His voice held no room for question.

"It's just, I see here, and I'm having a great time, Troy. Friends, a sense of family, I just feel so happy!" He looked at the light shining in her eyes and knew it was the truth.

"But...?" He questioned. That couldn't be all, or if it was, then she was right, he _would_ think it was stupid.

"I'm just a little... _worried_ I guess you could say."

"Worried about what?" He tilted her head upwards so her eyes would meet his.

"I'm worried that I'll never feel this way again." Her eyes looked down, even though her face was tilted upwards.

"What way?" Troy was still slightly confused.

"Loved." She whispered. And the moment it came out of her mouth, she knew it was true. That was the feeling that she kept experiencing all night long, the one that she was so confused about. The feeling of love exuding from everyone. Troy's parents, June, all her classmates, even Troy. They were all so accepting and...loving.

"Hey," Troy said nudging her face, "up here."

Gabriella dragged her eyes up his face, embarrassed that she had let her emotions slip. She didn't want Troy to think she had never been loved, because that wasn't true. It had just been a long long time since she had last experienced it.

"I'm glad you told me, Gabi." Troy's voice was soothing, and Gabi let it wash over her. "But you know what? I think you're worrying a lot over nothing."

Gabi's eyes flew open. Was he mocking her?

"Love doesn't just go away, Gabs. Every time you come in here now, you're going to be met with just as much love as you're experiencing tonight."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I've lived here my entire life, and my parents still love me, so, I like to think I'm pretty sure." He joked, causing Gabriella to smile.

"I don't think I've ever been so glad to have met someone in my entire life than I have with you, Troy Bolton." Gabriella said seriously.

"I don' think I've ever been happier to have stood on a step ladder for three hours than I have been in my entire life." Gabriella was confused as to what the hell he was talking about. Troy pointed upwards, where Gabriella noticed they were standing under mistletoe yet again.

"This time," Troy said as he inched closer, "I am not going to miss the opportunity of a lifetime." And with that, he closed the space between them, and their lips came together.

Gabriella had absolutely no experience when it came to kissing, let alone anything to compare kisses to, but as far as she was concerned, it was _fabulous._ Their lips clung together for what was probably only a few moments, but it seemed like decades to Gabriella. And what fantastic decades they were.

When he pulled away, Troy rested his forehead on hers for a moment.

"Opportunity of a lifetime?" Gabriella questioned softly.

Troy blushed.

"Well, yeah..."

"Something tells me you'll have more opportunities in your lifetime," Gabi said with a smile, and kissed him briefly again, astonishing herself and Troy that she had taken initiative.

-

The two returned to the living room just in time, as Chad was threatening to lick the remaining salt off of the chip bowl that sat, discarded in the room.

"Here," Troy said as he thrust a now-full bowl of chips into Chad's hands, causing him to almost scream in delight.

Troy and Gabriella settled down by the tree again, Gabi leaning in between Troy's knees, and Troy idly playing with her hair as he held a conversation with Zeke's dad and Gabi chatted with Taylor.

The night continued normally, until Gabi noticed that Ryan was on his knees in front of Kelsi.

"Please!" Ryan urged. Kelsi was blushing, but still shaking her head.

"Come on, I know you want to."

"Even if _I_ want to, Ryan," she gritted out between her teeth, "this is not my house and that is not my piano."

Gabriella quickly caught on, and thought it was a great idea.

"Oh, Kelsi, are you going to play some Christmas carols for us on the Bolton's Steinway baby grand piano?" She asked innocently, having overhead Kelsi obsessing about their piano and how she wished she could just _touch_ it.

"Oh, no, I couldn't-"

"Yes, you can, you must!" Mrs. Bolton cut her off.

"But-"

"We have Christmas piano books if you need them," Lucille continued.

"Yeah, we can just barely play the thing," Jack Bolton commented.

"Kelsi's _so_ great, dad." Troy added.

"Even better than our concert pianist," Ryan Evans piped up.

"Then the young lady must play for us!" Jack Bolton said decisively.

"I really don't think-" Kelsi tried once again.

"Unless, is it our piano?" Jack questioned. "Are you used to better?"

"No, ohmigosh, _no!_ I would be _honored_ to play your piano."

"Oh, well, now that that's settled," Jack said smug, causing Troy to laugh, knowing his dad was more clever than he gave him credit for sometimes.

After a few more weak arguments from Kelsi and more goading from Ryan, the two took a seat at the Bolton's piano in the corner. Together, they played everything, from Christmas classics, to some of the sillier Christmas songs, to the new songs that everyone was impressed that Kelsi even knew the music to. It started off soft, as background music, but by the end, everyone was singing along.

Gabriella was making the most out of the evening, surprising everyone by singing the loudest and even sneaking a kiss in with Troy every now and then. The couple had moved from the floor to the couch, with Troy sitting in a corner cushion and Gabriella perched on the armrest. Troy sang just as loud as Gabi, even though he usually insisted he couldn't sing at all. The two snuck smiles at each other, warming the hearts of all in the room.

Finally, the night was starting to wind down.

"Are you disappointed your other teammates didn't make it tonight, Troy?" Gabriella asked, genuinely concerned.

"Does it look like I'm disappointed with how this night went at all?"

Gabriella blushed, and leaned into him, his arms instinctively coming around her.

The two said goodbye to everybody as they left, and Gabi let out a tiny yawn.

"I better get you home so you can be all refreshed and make it over here nice and early, Montez."

'Sure thing," she smiled.

"Actually, Gabriella," Lucille started as she walked in, "it really seems silly for you to spend the night in a big house all alone, when you're just going to be woken up at God knows what hour by this one, here." She indicated Troy. "Why don't you spend the night?"

Gabriella's instinct was to say yes and continue the night in the most perfect way, but then an image flashed in her head - her pills. She hadn't taken any that night before she had left, because she thought she was coming home.

"Oh, I couldn't, Mrs. Bolton." Gabi managed to get out, much to Troy's disappointment.

"How many times do I have to ask you to call me Lucille? And why not?"

"I don't have anything here," Gabi said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Seeing a look of determination on Lucille's face, Gabi knew that her answer wasn't the most convincing. "There's just things I need to do at home," she said softly, her eyes pleading with Lucille to understand.

Lucille paused for a moment, mulling things over in her head.

"Here's an idea," she said, "How about we get you home and you can do what you need to do, grab some things that you'll need, and you come back here?"

Gabriella's eyes flashed to Troy. She really didn't want to chance him seeing her pills, as she had already had a close call.

Troy watched as she had her internal dilemma in her head. He knew that her "things to do" probably involved those pills he had seen previously. He also had an idea that she was probably nervous about him seeing them. He decided to take a huge leap of faith, and put all his trust in his mother.

"Well, mom, if Gabi does do this, do you think you could take her? I want to shower and get extra bedding and stuff out, and Dad told me I had to help clean up," he tried to communicate with his mother through his eyes, but he couldn't tell how it was going - Lucille was a damn good actress.

"Alright, well, yes, if Gabi agrees. Gabi?" Lucille asked.

"Um, well, if it's not too much trouble..." She figured it would be okay if Lucille, and not Troy were to take her to her house. She had no idea that Troy had already shared his pill-sighting experience with his mom, desperate for her own opinion. All Lucille had said at the time was that Gabriella would tell him with time, and until then, all you can do is wait.

Lucille decided that perhaps this would be a good opportunity to get to talk to Gabriella, and find out a little bit more about the ever-unravelling mystery that was Gabriella Montez.

-

They reached Gabriella's house in a mere matter of minutes, and although Gabriella said that in wasn't necessary for Lucille to come in, Lucille brushed it off and insisted that she at least come and keep her company in a big empty house.

She watched interestedly as Gabriella shoved random clothes into a duffel, placing three gifts in their with precision and care, and then proceed to shove various toiletries into the bag as well.

Gabi had excused herself to the bathroom to take her pills, yet before she took them, she stood in front of the mirror of the bathroom, hands gripping the edge of the sink, eyes boring into themselves.

It was times like these, times when Gabriella felt so happy and so content with life that she wondered if she even needed the pills. She used to ask her mother about this, but her mother had simply brushed it off as the pills doing their job - "_As soon as you stop taking them, you'll be sad again. You can't stop."_ Her mother had that line well rehearsed. Gabriella scooped up cold water in her hands and sloshed it on her face. She uncapped a bottle of pills and just as she went to pour two out onto her hand, Lucille knocked on the door, causing her hand to jerk in surprise, and the pills to be spilt all over the bathroom floor.

"Shit!" Gabriella cursed as she watched dozens of little white and blue capsules roll off into a million directions.

She knelt down and tried to capture as many of the pills as she could when she froze. The door had opened, and Lucille Bolton was standing there in the doorway, watching her pick up pills.

It seemed like the moment stretched for an eternity. It was broken fairly quickly though, as Lucille knelt down to help a now trembling Gabriella gather pills.

"V-v-vitamins." Gabriella stuttered, trying to explain.

"Oh," Lucille said as she picked one up and brought it to her eyes. "Looks like...fluoxetine to me, if I remember correctly."

Gabriella froze. _How did she...?_

Lucille squinted as she noted the other bottle on the counter, untouched.

"Clonazepam, probably, right?"

Gabriella just nodded, mutely. Lucille just went about collecting the capsules and returning them to the bottle as Gabriella just watched in shock. Finally, she regained the use of her voice.

"How did you know?" She whispered. "Are you like, a doctor? Are you going to tell Troy?"

"Telling Troy is solely up to you, and no," she let out a small laugh, "I am not a doctor."

"Then how did you know what they were, without even..."

"Fluoxetine and clonazepam are frequently paired together for prescriptions. And I know this because I, too, was prescribed these two."

Gabriella gasped, in shock.

"You were?"

"Yes, about 5 years ago now." Lucille had found as many pills as she saw, and recapped the bottle, giving it to Gabriella.

"You're not still on them?" Lucille shook her head.

"Got better and didn't need them anymore." She answered. Gabriella was in shock. Getting better _without_ the pills?

"I don't get it...the pills make you get better. I thought that if you, well, stopped taking them, you go back to being sick." Gabriella's voice was so small and confused that it nearly broke Lucille's heart.

Lucille stood up and extended a hand down, for Gabriella to get up as well. She didn't release her hand and led her instead to her bed, and sat down next to her.

"The pills help for a while, sweetheart. But, a lot of people get better and don't need to take pills anymore."

"How do you know when you're better?"

"You talk about it, and eventually the pain goes away. Don't you talk about it with a therapist?"

"I don't have a therapist," Gabriella said, shaking her head, "I just take the pills."

"Darling, you don't have to keep it all inside. A therapist will help. Why do you take the pills?" She asked in a soothing voice. _Must be a Bolton thing_, Gabriella thought. Gabriella didn't know what to say, though. It had been so long since she had even said it out loud, let alone _talked_ about it. She was trying to think of how to put it into words, when Lucille's voice interrupted her.

"Would it help if you knew why _I_ took the pills?"

Gabriella nodded vigorously. She was immensely curious as to why a woman as put together as Mrs. Bolton would ever need to take anti-depressants. Gabriella, well, in her opinion, was a mess, so pills just seemed natural.

"Troy was about twelve when it happened. And I love my son, understand that. Love him more than anything in the entire world. But, when it happened, I couldn't help but being so excited."

"I'm sorry, but, when _what_ happened, Lucille?" Gabriella asked, confused.

"When I got pregnant." Lucille said with a bitter smile. It took everything Gabriella had to not gasp out loud. Troy didn't have any brothers or sisters, so she had to assume...

"We were all really excited, even Troy." Lucille continued. "It was going to be a little girl. I carried her full term. I had a baby shower, and we had decorated a nursery. We were _so_ excited. Understand, Gabriella, that I love Troy so much, more than I had thought possible, but I was excited at the prospect of a little girl. Troy had already shown an interest in basketball, him and Jack were always off doing guy things, and I was just excited that I was going to get this opportunity." Tears burned her eyes. It had only been five years ago, and the memories were all still fresh in her mind.

"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?" Gabi was nervous about overstepping the boundaries her and Lucille had, but she wanted desperately to know what had happened to the Bolton that never was.

"I was already fairly old when I discovered I was pregnant. That, coupled with other birth complications, resulted in Lily being stillborn."

"Lily?" Gabriella practically whispered. Lucille just nodded.

"It took me a long time to get over that, Gabriella. I'm not saying it still doesn't hurt, but I think I am a lot better off than I was before. I can only be thankful for what I have today."

"How long were you on the pills?"

"About two years. A little longer."

"Are you glad you stopped taking them?"

"That's a pretty weighted question, Gabriella. Most of the time, yes. I am. But sometimes, the pain does get a little much, and it's really hard to deal with. And I crave the numbness that used to come with the pills." She looked at Gabi. "I know you know what I'm talking about." Gabriella nodded. The numbness took some getting used to. It wasn't as if she was completely numb to everything - as tonight had shown - but somehow, it always felt as though she was feeling emotions through a filter. Like, she knew she should feel _sadder_, but for some reason she didn't.

"So, if you're worried about whether or not Troy would understand, the answer is always a resounding _yes_. He had to deal with me on the pills for a long time, and, although it did take some time for him to finally understand why the pills helped, he was really supportive."

"He understood for you?" Gabi didn't want to seem as shocked as she had, but it was just that Troy was generally never sad, and he admitted it time and time again that he wasn't that great at dealing with people who were sad.

"Of course he understood, sweetie. Troy felt almost as sad as Jack and I did when he lost a sister. And he felt even more frustrated that I was so sad, as if he wasn't enough of a son for us, which, of course, was never the case. He did learn, though, that he wasn't neither the cause or a contributing factor for my unhappiness. He learned, and accepted it, and we grew a lot closer because of it, I'm happy to say."

"Wow," Gabi breathed. She hadn't known all of this was in Troy's past. Of course, she couldn't get upset at him for not sharing, because there was so much in her past that he didn't know.

"I know what it's like to feel guilty that you can't make your parents happy." Gabriella said slowly, trying to put events that had long been put to rest back into words. "My father had depression his entire life, or, at least that's what my mom said. Sometimes he was really great, but sometimes he wasn't. I don't think he was on medicine. I think...I think that's why my mom's so adamant that I stay on the pills, you know?"

Lucille nodded, pleased that she was getting the girl to open up.

"When I was 10, I got home from school and saw my dad's car in the driveway, and I thought that was really weird. I mean, not only did he not park in the garage, but he usually didn't get home 'til 5 or 6." She took a deep shuddering breath. "I went inside and saw that there was a little pink piece of paper on the coffee table, saying that my dad didn't have his job anymore."

Lucille nodded, encouraging the girl to continue, yet her heart aching for the little girl that found her father's pink slip.

"He wasn't in the house, I looked everywhere. Then I went into the garage. I never liked the garage to begin with. My mom and dad never took the time to really clean it and it was always creepy and spider-y and totally gross. I used to refuse to go in there, all the time actually. My parents always used to yell at me and tell me to grow up. Ironic, isn't it? The one time I go into the garage voluntarily, I find my dad's body."

Lucille wanted to ask, but at the same time, she didn't. She didn't want to know what scarred the girl.

"He shot himself in the head." Gabi said, fighting back the tears. She hadn't thought about that particular scene in a very long time. She remembered her father, sure, but she tried not to remember the dank smell of the garage, the blood that seemed to coat everything, dripping off the ceiling. She had ran out before she looked at her father's mutilate body, but sometimes she wondered if that was a good idea. Her imagination only came up with more and more gruesome ideas in her head.

Lucille had tried to stop it, but she couldn't help the hand that she raised to her mouth as she gasped. A stray tear escaped her eyes, and she felt foolish, as she was trying to be strong and comforting for the poor girl, but all the same, she was still a human.

She took the girl in her arms and enveloped her in a tight hug, letting Gabriella cry out the tears that she had kept locked up for so long. They stayed like that for a while, until Gabriella finally pulled back, brushing her tears away.

"I'm gonna tell Troy." She said, trying to convince Lucille. "I just, I just want to be ready. I know he deserves to know, after all, he's helped me so much..."

"You just tell him when you feel comfortable, sweetheart. Don't do anything you're not ready to do." Gabriella nodded.

"Come on," Lucille said, throwing her duffel at her. "You better pack up another outfit, since you're staying tomorrow night, too."

"Really?" Gabriella gasped with excitement, throwing more clothes in the bag.

Before they took a step out of Gabriella's room, Lucille put her arms on her shoulders and turned Gabriella so that she was facing her.

"You are a very special girl, Gabriella. And I'm here for you whenever you need me, you hear me?"

Gabi nodded, and started to walk out of the room, when she turned around.

"Hey, Lucille?"

"_Finally_!" Mrs. Bolton jokes as she held her hands to the sky. "Yes, honey?"

"Troy's really lucky to have you as a mom, you know?"

Lucille smiled at the girl's sweetness and slung an arm around her as they made their way downstairs.

"Yeah, he is, isn't he?" She joked.


	10. Come Clean

**A/N: So…it's been what, a year? Well, it would be a year of non-updates in January, and that's unacceptable! I give you my intense apologies, and could write a very long note with an excuse, but you'd be bored. All I can give you is this: if the characters seem a little off – I'm sorry. A lot changes in a year, as I'm sure you all know, and I tried hard to keep it in the same flow, but I'm sure its radically different no matter what. I hope you all like it. Huge thanks goes out to all those reviewers who asked for more – even as recent as last month – and never losing faith! I'm here, I promise. I hope you like this update…I think it's a little longer than my other chapters, and I worked hard on it all day, but in my rush to post it, there might be errors. All apologies, and enough ado! Read the chapter, and tell me your thoughts!**

**Disclaimer; Don't own it!**

To say Gabi's Christmas was the best she had experienced in the past few years would to be putting it mildly. The two days she spent with the Boltons were like something out of her dreams. She had been enveloped in their sense of family and fun, and even though the majority of it was spent doing menial things – board games, Christmas carols, watching movies, just talking, cooking, and baking together – it was all perfect.

The days passed by much too quickly for Gabi's liking and as she stood next to Troy in her driveway she was forced back into reality. Harshly.

"Is that what I think it is?" Gabi whispered to Troy, who was just as shocked next to her.

"I…I think so."

Gabi let out a frustrated groan and flopped her head onto Troy's shoulder.

"You should probably go look at the card."

"Can it still be Christmas Day with a normal family?" Gabi asked hopefully.

"Don't think so, babygirl," Troy said with a laugh.

"Fine," she huffed, walking up to the monstrosity in her driveway.

Well, maybe monstrosity wasn't the right word for it. But it was definitely unwelcome. It was Gabi's Christmas present from Maria, complete with a huge bow adorning it.

A brand new black Ford Focus.

There was a red envelope on the windshield, held in place by a wiper, and had Gabi's name hastily scrawled on it in Maria's familiar handwriting.

Gabi took the card somewhat hesitantly before seemingly shrugging and tearing into it. A set of keys slipped into her hand and she read the generic Christmas card, the epitome of all things she hates.

_Darling,_ Maria wrote after the cliché lines within the card, _I hope this present is all you wanted and more. See you after Christmas! Love, Mom._

Gabi scoffed at the impersonal card and closed it before looking up at Troy. He was staring back at her with an unreadable expression on his face. He was torn between being excited for her – after all, she just got a brand new freakin' car – but also between giving in to the immense amount of pity he felt bubbling within him. He knew that Gabi wanted nothing more in her life than a family to hold close, and not material things. It just didn't seem fair that someone like Gabi got the short straw on almost everything, and then there were people like Sharpay that got their world handed to them on a silver platter.

"She gave me a car," Gabi stated in case Troy had missed that.

"I noticed," he said with a smile.

"A _car_."

"Yeah."

"What am I going to do with a car?"

"You know, you have your license Montez, you could always drive it."

"I guess," Gabi bit her lip before turning to Troy again. "Is it bad to drive it? I didn't want a car. I don't know if I want to enjoy this gift."

"Gabi," Troy finally pulled her close to him into a hug, "it's okay to want to drive it. Heck, if it helps, I want to drive it!"

Gabi hit him playfully but relaxed in his arms. She was so grateful they had experienced the past few days, to give her the confidence to be able to just…be.

"I'm not sure I want to deal with that at this moment in time," she admitted softly.

"You don't have to," Troy reassured. "Why don't you go shower and take that nap you've been dying take?"

Gabi smirked at this, because she had never said anything aloud about being tired, but the truth was, hanging out with a family as boisterous as the Boltons was_ exhausting_. She was grateful to get a night to herself (not that the 3AM Monopoly fest wasn't fun! It just took it's toll on Gabriella).

"If you insist," Gabriella yawned.

"Go!"

"Okay, okay."

Gabriella leaned up and placed a chaste kiss on Troy's lips before smiling at him peacefully. He gave her a little shove, which she mock pouted to, before turning on her heel and flouncing into the house with drama Troy didn't even know she possessed.

Troy stood for a moment, alternating between looking at the door his girl disappeared into and the shiny new car in her driveway. Shaking his head to himself, he climbed back into his truck and made his way back to his house, which was decidedly less appealing without a certain brown eyed brunette there waiting.

"I love it!" Taylor exclaimed to Gabi, who did a little twirl for her with a grin.

It was now December 31st, the night of the big East High party. Gabi had cajoled Lucille into going shopping with her for the perfect outfit, and was currently modeling the number one pick for her as the pair finished getting ready.

Gabi was wearing a tight pair of black jeans with a loose silk tank top, large black and white polka dots adorning it, with thick black straps and a slightly plunging neckline. Her ears draped shiny black discs and a black beaded necklace completed the look Lucille had insisted Gabi go for.

"You do? I don't look too made up, do I?" Gabi asked nervously.

"Oh no, trust me. You haven't seen anything 'til you've seen Sharpay. I'm halfway convinced she thinks this is the prom."

Gabi giggled at the idea of Sharpay in an evening gown for a silly high school party, but sobered instantly, holding out her hands to Taylor, a different shoe in each.

"Pick please!'

Taylor perused the two and opted for the slightly higher black cork heels.

"Thanks," Gabi said as she sat down to put on the selected shoes. "And you know, you sort of defeat the purpose of 'getting ready together' if you come already gotten ready!"

"_'Gotten ready_?'" Taylor questioned.

"Shut up," Gabi replied good naturedly.

"And just for the record, my mother insisted on me getting ready at my house so she could take pictures before I left."

"Oh, was Chad there?"

"_No_."

Gabi laughed loudly at this, but continued tightening her heels.

"So what's June up to tonight, anyway?"

"Going out with Mr. Baylor," Taylor replied lightly.

"You don't sound too upset anymore," Gabi noticed as she stood up to see the finished product in the mirror.

"Nah, I mean, not really. He really is a nice guy, and my mom likes him. And, well…"

"And…?"

"And she pretty much told me to butt out!"

"Smart woman," Gabi teased.

"Oh, hush."

Taylor stood next to Gabi, as they both examined themselves in the full length mirror in Gabi's bathroom.

"You look fantastic," Gabi commented. Taylor was wearing wide legged jeans with a black shirt that was rouched around the waist, but with flowing sleeves.

"I don't look like I have wings?" Taylor asked self-consciously, holding her arms out to her sides, observing the fabric connecting her sleeves to the bottom of the shirt. Gabriella just laughed at her friend, as she was used to being the one that was usually insecure. It was nice being able to reassure someone else for a change.

"You're beautiful," Gabi reaffirmed. "Chad's gonna flip."

"He better," Taylor muttered as she slipped on black stilettos, hating wearing heels.

"Okay, we ready?"

"I think so," Taylor still sounded worried, but she wasn't about to change at that point.

"Let's go!"

They were meeting the boys at the school as Chad and Troy insisted they had too much to fit in Gabi's Focus, and Troy's truck only had two seats. Taylor didn't have a car and Chad's SUV was getting detailed as a Christmas gift, so the four succumbed to wasting gas and taking two separate cars.

"Mmm, it still smells like new car," Taylor said as she sat in the front seat of Gabi's car.

Gabi had gotten over her reluctance to drive the terrible excuse for a gift that her mother had left her fairly quickly. Troy had just told her to think of it as one extra way for her to escape the house when she needed to, and Gabi conceded instantly, thinking of how much easier it'd be to just leave whenever she felt like it, instead of waiting for someone to pick her up, or for her mom to just take the car before she could.

"It's pretty nice, isn't it?" Gabi said a little abashedly.

"Sharpay is going to _freak_."

"Didn't Sharpay like, get her own island this Christmas?"

"I think they're saving that for Easter," Taylor joked. "But seriously, Sharpay gets jealous of anyone who has gifts that rival hers."

"It's not like I have anything _else_ that rivals hers!"

"I'm sure she'll realize that soon enough, but that's probably after she picks you apart in order to make herself feel better."

"I love high school, I really do," Gabi said, rolling her eyes and pulling out of the driveway.

"What are you _doing_?" Taylor asked as Gabi and her made their way over to Troy and Chad in the cafeteria.

The two aforementioned males were, from the looks of it, trying to set up the mother of all tents. It could easily sleep 12 and had two dividers in it to separate the tent into three sections. The boys had actually managed to get most of the tent upright and somewhat sturdy, but were currently fighting with a particularly stubborn pole, which refused to bend into the socket it was supposed to, despite Chad and Troy practically sitting on it.

"What do you think, babe? Pretty good, right?" Chad asked Taylor as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. "_Get in there!_" He yelled at the pole.

"It doesn't like to be yelled at, dude!" Troy admonished Chad as he blew his shaggy hair out of his eyes, never removing the tight grip he had on the pole.

"Um, guys, why don't you try moving the piece it's supposed to go into instead of the pole?" Gabi asked curiously.

The two guys shared a confused look.

"Hold that pole tight," Gabi warned as she stepped closer, putting down her backpack and sleeping bag by her feet. She stepped closer and bent down, moving the plastic piece that was designed to hold the pole about two inches closer to the pole that was wavering dangerously in the air.

She stood back up and held the piece in place with her foot, motioning for the guys to try the placement now. The pole went in effortlessly.

"Wow," Chad said standing up, wiping his brow and breathing slightly erratically. "Girl Scout Gabi to the rescue!"

"I do what I can," Gabi kidded, brushing her shoulders off.

"Well, thank you," Troy said, coming up beside her, buttoning up his black shirt that he had discarded in the tent making process.

"Not a problem, Mr. Bolton," Gabi said, leaning up to kiss him before pulling back. Troy gave her a very confused look, but she just pointed behind him.

"What is _that_?"

"_That_ is Sharpay's tent," Chad informed her, wrapping an arm around Taylor.

The 'tent,' if it could even be called that, looked more solid than a lot of houses Gabi had seen. It was hot pink, almost to the ceiling, had feather-lined windows, complete with what she _hoped_ were rhinestones adorning the surface sporadically. And to top it off, a butler standing at the zippered entrance.

"She has a butler." Gabi stated unbelievingly.

"That she does." Troy nodded.

"A _butler_."

"Yup."

"That _is_ ridiculous, right? I'm not just being crazy?"

"Oh, if you think that's crazy, you should see the inside," Ryan spoke as he walked up to the group from behind, Kelsi and him holding hands. "It looks like Barbie's dream house on steroids."

"Hey guys," Taylor greeted the pair, the others echoing her sentiments.

"You guys ready for fun?" Kelsi asked unenthusiastically.

"Whoa, don't sound too excited, Kels," Troy implored.

"You're right," Kelsi sighed. "It shouldn't be bad, actually. And Ryan even said he'd help Zeke drag Sharpay off the karaoke stage after her fourth song."

"Don't envy you, bro," Chad laughed.

"Don't remind me," Ryan muttered.

"So you guys gonna crash with us?" Troy offered, gesturing to the now-set-up tent.

"If you don't mind," Ryan said with palpable relief. He clearly didn't want to go back to the bubblegum-colored tent anytime soon.

"Not at all, we got plenty of room."

"This is a huge tent!" Kelsi exclaimed, poking her head in and seeing the large space.

"I put it up single-handedly," Gabi joked, drawing a laugh out of everyone, especially Troy. His eyes softened as they landed on her, and he was instantly taken back to that first day in September when they met, and she had barely wanted to say more than three words to him, let alone spend time with him. Words couldn't describe how happy he was at her progress – at _their_ progress.

"_So_," Chad said, clapping his hands together, "Who's up for some food? Anyone? Anyone at all?"

"Let's go," Taylor sighed, taking the arm he offered as he escorted her to the cafeteria line, where catered food was taking the place of their usual cardboard-esque meals.

"Care to show me around?" Gabriella asked Troy with a sweet smile gracing her face. Troy bowed low, shooting her a wink.

"After you, m'lady."

"How do they _do_ that?" Gabi asked in awe as Troy led her out of another classroom where kids were playing Dance Dance Revolution projected onto the overhead screen. "They're so fast!"

"Yeah," Troy agreed, "you should see Chad. He's really good for the first minute or so, but as soon as it starts getting too fast, all hope is lost and he's just stomping around." He paused before smiling wide. "It's really quite priceless, and I hope he does that later on."

"What's in here?" Gabriella asked curiously, pausing at the open doors to the auditorium. Music was blaring and a couple of kids were goofing off onstage, dancing and pretending to sing.

"Karaoke," Troy said in a low voice in her ear, causing a shiver to race down Gabi's spine. "It doesn't really get started 'til later in the night, and even then, I heard it's just Sharpay and sometimes Ryan."

"So I won't get to see you up there?" Gabi turned around, noticing the close proximity of their bodies, but not really caring.

"Not this century," he said with a laugh. "Basketball is one thing, but consciously making a fool out of myself in front of all my peers? That's something totally different. Now if _you_ were to get up there, I think I might have a renewed interest…"

Gabi scoffed and continued down the hall. _As if that will ever happen_, she thought mirthfully.

They met up with the others back in the cafeteria, where Gabi happened to notice just how starved she actually was.

"Do you mind?" She asked Troy, gesturing to the growing line for food.

"Not at all…I would kill for some chicken wings."

"The bird's already dead, Troy," she teased light heartedly. "I don't think it'd appreciate any more blood being spilt on it's account."

"What a noble bird, if I do say so." He grinned at her, and Gabi could tell this night would end up great. "Did I ever tell you the story of when Sharpay went all animal-rights-activist on us for a few days? Let me tell you, I think _everyone_ was glad when she went back to being an omnivore."

They joked and Troy regaled her with stories of their fellow East High students before making their way back to the tent.

Not wanting to make a mess inside, the others were sitting in a semi circle outside the tent on a spread out sleeping bag, eating various snacks.

"Whoa, Gabi," Chad said as he noted her plate of food. "Hungry much?"

"As a matter of fact," she replied with a cheeky grin, "I am-"

"A cow?" A voice cut her off from behind her back. Gabi slowly turned to face the offending voice.

Mallory Dutton and two other cheerleaders were standing behind her, glowering. One of the girls did shoot Gabi a small smile – they were in Sociology together, and she had always been nice to Gabi.

"Actually," Gabi said slowly, "in this case, a female cow would be referred to as a _heifer_."

She did not understand where her sudden brazen-ness was coming from, but she couldn't say that she didn't appreciate it. Mallory Dutton was one of the girls that she was fairly sure Troy didn't talk to still, all because of her having a problem with Gabi.

"Whatever," Mallory blew her off. "You think just because you're so smart you're better than us."

"I do?"

"Oh please, it's _so_ obvious. You think that because you're so mysterious and creepy smart that you're _above_ us."

"Have you checked your class rank?" Chad muttered to himself, eliciting a smile for the nicer cheerleader – _Candice_, Gabi thought.

"Can it, Chuckles," Mallory shot towards Chad.

"Listen, Mallory, I don't know what-" Gabi started.

"You think I want to listen to _you_ more than I want to listen to Danforth? Trust me, I don't." She clicked her perfectly manicured nails together as if she were an evil villain. "I just want to let you know that I know who _you_ are, Gabriella Montez. You think you're so special, being the new girl? Well that got old fast. I know that you're nothing, so I think you should know that too. And your mother, what's her name – Maria? My mother works with her. Says she slept her way to the top…like mother like daughter, huh?" Gabriella was too furious to form words. "Guess that's why she couldn't keep your dad around."

Gabi put a hand on Troy's shoulder as he went to go stand up and say something; she didn't want him to fight her own fights for her, and she definitely didn't want him to do anything that could jeopardize his basketball career.

"Ugh, all that talking made me parched," Mallory noted as she turned to leave.

"Take mine," Gabriella said in a dark voice as she thrust a can of Diet Coke into Mallory's hand and stormed off, followed closely by Troy.

She had only made it to around the corner of Sharpay's tent when Troy caught up to her.

"Gabi, I-"

"Shh!" She put a finger to his lips and pointed to Mallory as she walked away from Troy's tent.

Mallory tapped an acrylic nail on the top of the can and pulled the tab. With one ominous _hiss! _, the entire can of Diet Coke exploded on her, coating her face and top, and causing the entire cafeteria to erupt in laughter. Gabriella had to slap a hand over her mouth to prevent her from being the loudest.

She only laughed harder at Troy's expression: he looked utterly bewildered. Like he was torn between laughing hysterically or being amazed at the trick Gabi had managed to pull.

"C'mon," Gabi said, pulling Troy behind her as they made their way back to the tent. Gabi plopped back down, graceful as ever, even in three inch heels, and rubbed her hands together. "I am _hungry_."

Five awestruck eyes met hers as she delicately nibbled a chicken wing.

Finally, Troy broke the silence.

"What _was_ that?"

"Was the soda thing too much?" Gabi asked, eyes wide. "I wasn't even sure if it would work, she just made me so mad and I'm really not good at talking back to people, and trust me, the words I wanted to say weren't really that great either, and I wasn't really thinking-"

"Gabi, Gabi!" Chad interrupted her, a huge grin across his face. "_That_…was amazing. I couldn't have done it better myself." He held out his hand for a high five, which Gabi did tentatively.

"Girl, how did you even _think_ of that?" Taylor asked incredulously.

Gabi just shrugged. "They do it in the movies a lot."

"And you're not even upset?" Troy asked worriedly.

"I…" Gabi's face fell as she tried to put her feelings into words. "I'd be upset if any of _you_ had said that." She concluded. "But girls like Mallory Dutton are at every school. And all she managed in doing was make me convinced that I made the right choice in my friends."

"You amaze me," Troy said as he leaned in and kissed her forehead as she continued to dig in to her food.

The words still stung Gabriella – to her very core, if she had to be honest about it – but she had to admit, she was always afraid that something like that would be said to her by someone she considered a _friend_. It was part of her hesitance to form friendships to begin with. But she realized now that even though she had no right to say the things she said to Gabriella, Mallory Dutton's words didn't really matter, because people knew the real her. And that was all that _did_ matter.

The rest of the night progressed without any drama. No other jealous cheerleaders, not even a Darbus sighting, and everyone was grateful for that. The group was having a great time, and Gabriella's presence was the cause of it. She encouraged Chad to try DDR on the highest speed, to everyone's amusement; she told Sharpay that she really _did_ want to hear "My Heart Will Go On," even though she knew it was the one song Sharpay hated – but would never turn down a personal request. She even got Kelsi to play a song on the baby piano in the auditorium and have Taylor tap dance to it – something she had sworn not to do since the fifth grade.

"So, Gabriella," Troy began as he twirled her out and brought her back in as they danced in the aisles of the auditorium. The room had long since cleared out after Sharpay's rendition of Celine Dion, and the gang was having a fine time by themselves, with the occasional chaperone poking in and making sure everything was PG.

"Mmm?" Gabriella giggled as he dipped her low to the ground.

"You have gotten everyone else here to do something that they may or may not regret tomorrow morning."

"I plead the fifth," she laughed, twirling by herself now.

"Well, what do you say to you and me embarrassing ourselves a little bit?"

"I already got called a _cow_ tonight, Troy," she said matter-of-factly. "It's gonna be hard to top that embarrassment."

Troy's face darkened with the mention of Mallory, but he was proud that Gabriella didn't take it lying down, but was able to poke fun at herself later. Again, he was soaked in a feeling of nostalgia at how far she had really come.

"Sing with me," Troy said with a smile. Gabriella paused mid-twirl.

"What?"

"Sing. With me." He repeated.

"I don't know…" Gabriella bit her lip, mulling it over.

"C'mon. It's not like you're doing it alone, and there's not even anyone in here. At least anyone who matters."

"Hey!" Chad protested from his position on the stage – a handstand, for reasons unknown.

"You know what I mean," Troy called back, his eyes still trained on Gabriella. "What do you say?"

"I say…" She was silent for a few more moments, before letting a smile take over her face. "What the hell!"

Troy wasn't sure if it was the Christmas break, or the time spent with his family, or _what_, but he was certain that this was the most carefree he had ever seen Gabi, and he loved it.

"But I get to pick the song!" She called out as she raced up to the stage, pouring over the song options with Taylor and Kelsi.

After five agonizing minutes of Chad questioning Troy's ability to sing ("She wouldn't do it without me, man!" was Troy's constant protest), Gabi finally selected a song with conviction. Troy walked to the stage slowly, as if he were going for his execution. Gabi just rolled her eyes at him and tossed him a microphone.

"You're in luck, Wildcat. It's a duet!"

The music rang out through the speakers slightly tinny, as it wasn't that great of a sound system anyway, and karaoke recordings were never the best, but Troy still grinned unrepentantly as he brought the mic to his mouth in an overdramatic way. Expecting him to joke off with it, Gabriella was pleasantly surprised when his smooth voice came over the speakers – he was taking it seriously, for her.

_"Living in my own world – didn't understand that anything can happen when you take a chance."_

Gabi took a deep breath, trying desperately to quell the butterflies that she knew were unnecessary anyways. She was just in front of a few of her friends, joking around. They didn't _expect_ anything from her.

_"I never believed in what I couldn't see. I never opened my heart to all the possibilities,_" Troy's smile widened – if that was possible – and he got closer to Gabi, singing with her.

_"I know that something has changed, never felt this way, and right here tonight…this could be the start of something new, it feels so right to be here with you. And now, looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart – the start of something new."_

Troy seemed to loosen up after the chorus and he moonwalked away from Gabriella, drawing a giggle from her as he continued.

"_Now who would of ever thought that we'd both be here tonight?_" He shook his head to convey how even _he_ was surprised as to where they had both were versus where they are now.

_"And the world looks some much brighter with you by my side," _Gabriella sang back, putting more effort into her voice.

_"I know that something has changed never felt this way, and right here tonight…this could be the start of something new, it feels so right to be here with you. And now, looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart – the start of something new."_

Troy suddenly slid across the stage floor on his knees, singing emphatically into the mic he held, causing Gabi to snort but hold back her laughter.

_"I never knew that it could happen 'til it happened to me – oh, yeah."_

Gabi couldn't let him look silly all by himself, so she took it upon herself to be just as emphatic, if not more so.

_"I didn't know it before, but now it's easy to see," _she watched with a smug look as Troy's eyes widened as she hit a particularly high note, something she had only tried in the comfort of her own shower before.

_"This could be the start of something new, it feels so right to be here with you, oh. And now, looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart…that it's the start of something new, it feels so right to be here with you. And now, looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart," _Troy pulled Gabi flush against him as he smiled into the mic.

"_The start of something new," _he sang lower, until she joined in. "_The start of something new_."

Gabriella leaned in to give him a soft, chaste kiss on his lips when the sound of applause broke her from her reverie. She looked around and saw not only her friends, but a few people that had heard the song from down the hall, and even some teachers.

She thunked her head against Troy's chest, getting a laugh out of him.

"This is _totally_ worse than being called a cow," she moaned.

"No, really, you guys should sing at the talent show!" Taylor said for what had to be the thousandth time since the auditorium had cleared out and left the original group to their own devices. They were sitting on the stage – Kelsi lying across the top of the piano with Ryan sitting on the bench playing with her hair, Troy sitting with his back against a speaker and Gabriella in between his legs, Zeke adoringly watching Sharpay as she sat at a vanity that she had him drag out onto the stage as she tried out different makeup styles, and Chad and Taylor lounging on a huge pillow that had to have been a prop for a prior musical.

"Guys, like I've been saying, we were just goofing off. We weren't even trying," Gabi tried to convince them.

"Then imagine how good you'll be if you actually _try_," Kelsi urged.

"Troy, a little help," Gabi said with an elbow to his stomach. He let a piece of Gabi's hair fall through his fingers before clearing his throat.

"Sharpay would be mad," he supplied half-heartedly.

"Are you _kidding_?" Sharpay shrieked from her position at the vanity, pulling herself away from her reflection. "The talent show already has half the student body in it now. It's not like it can get any worse."

"Gee, thanks Sharpay," Troy shot back sarcastically.

"As long as you're not in the spring musicale. You hear me? No. Spring. Musicale."

"We. Hear. You." Gabi deadpanned, drawing a laugh out of everyone except Sharpay, who just looked confused.

"Then whatever," she said, holding her mouth open for Zeke to feed her a cookie.

Conversations deteriorated at about that point, the couples discussing their own things – namely Troy and Gabriella, except for Sharpay and Zeke, of course.

"C'mon," Troy said softly, tugging Gabriella's hand to stand up.

"Where are we going?" She asked curiously, casting a glance around the auditorium, only to find everyone else was otherwise engaged.

"To talk where we won't be accosted," Troy said with a laugh.

They made their way up to the rooftop garden, and Gabriela had to laugh when she saw the lanterns lit and some pillows and a sleeping bag on the ground. For a brief moment she wondered if Troy was expecting… _more_, but she quickly brushed it off. After all, as much as she wasn't like other girls – Troy Bolton was _not_ like other guys.

They made themselves comfortable, Gabriella grinning as she noticed the box of caramel popcorn.

"Thanks for tonight," she said as she caught some popcorn in the air. Troy gave her a peculiar look. "What?"

"It's just that _you_ thanked _me_ for tonight. I should be thanking you, Gabi."

"Huh? Why?" She was genuinely confused.

"I just…before you came into my life, I always felt like the third wheel. Between Taylor and Chad's relationship, Kelsi and Ryan's _non_-relationship, and Zeke and Sharpay's constant love-fest, it was just…it got old, that's all. I'm just not sure you realize how much fun you brought into my life." Troy blushed and ducked his head quickly, obviously uncomfortable with being so open. Gabriella tentatively reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand.

"You have _no idea_ what you brought to my life, Troy Bolton. I'm always going to be grateful for you."

Gabi rested her forehead against Troy's for a moment, listening to their rhythmic breathing before make a decision she wasn't sure she'd ever make.

She took a deep breath and leaned back, focusing on the blanket beneath her.

"Things with my mom have always been the same since my dad died," she began in a quiet voice. Although Troy knew her father wasn't with them, he had never assumed he had passed away, but rather left. "It sucks. A lot. But with you…I feel like everything's more bearable."

Gabi looked up at Troy through lowered lashes, and decided that there was no doing this halfway. She was going to just tell him.

"I've never had friends, Troy. Not in a long, long time. My mom told me I wasn't allowed to talk about what happened. She said that no one wanted to hear about it. And for a long time, I thought she was right. Kids are the same everywhere, and I didn't want to be judged. So I kept to myself, not wanting to get involved, not wanting to have to _not_ talk about it. It was so hard, in the beginning. But then it just became the norm for me. It was normal to spend all my time alone, and it was normal for us to move every few months." She took a deep breath and plunged. "My dad killed himself, Troy. And not one person who has known _me_ has known _that_."

She waited. She waited and hoped that she hadn't scared him off – that she hadn't scared the one good thing in her life away. She was sure that he wasn't going to say anything when-

"Don't cry," Troy said softly, wiping her cheeks with his thumbs. She hadn't even realized she was crying.

"Did I ruin everything?" She asked through the tears, frantic. "Is this too much? Are you-"

He cut her off with his lips on hers.

"You didn't ruin anything," he said after pulling away. "I'm so glad you told me Gabi, really." She just sniffled in response. "When did it happen?" He prodded softly.

"When I was 10…about 7 years ago."

"I'm so sorry," he murmured, pulling her into a tight hug. "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, okay? Just know that I will listen and I won't tell a soul."

"I want to," she said in a barely audible voice. "If that's okay? I mean, I understand if you don't want to listen…"

"I want to hear everything that comes out of your mouth."

After a few minutes of sitting together in silence, her back to his front, Gabi felt comfortable enough to continue.

"He was a really great guy," she started, her voice soft. "I don't remember as much as I wish I did, but from what I do remember…he was amazing. He really loved my mom and me. My mom…she told me he was sick. That he was depressed, and he couldn't really control it. I don't blame him. I'm sad that he's not with me, but I don't blame him.

"He lost his job, one day. I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I came home, and he was there…only not. His car was in the drive, and his pink slip was on the table, and he…he was in the garage. I-I found him," she choked out. She had never told anyone this story before, besides Lucille, and even then, it was more of the Cliff Notes version than the entire story.

"I'm so sorry," Troy repeated, over and over into her hair as more tears streamed down Gabi's face. He didn't have words to convey his true feelings – that he was irrevocably sorry for everything she had endured, and yet also, amazed and proud by the girl she was today, and he suddenly felt as if he understood her twenty times better than he ever had. A small part of him felt guilt, as well – after all, he had been pushing her in the beginning, when she moved here – God, had it only been four months ago? – and maybe it just wasn't what she needed then. But there was nothing he could do about the past, but he was definitely going to have a lot to do with the future.

And so they spent the night, in that position, sharing hushed words and tears and small laughs. Gabriella confessed (although that didn't seem like the right word, it sounded as if she had done something wrong) everything that she had ever wanted to tell Troy. She told him about the gruesome way her father died, the pain that accompanied it, the fractured relationship with her mother because of it, and even the pills that were now a part of her daily routine.

Troy shared some of his secrets, too. He told her about the pain of losing a little sister that he never got to know, and the fact that he always tried to hide the pain, not wanting to put more on his parents. He told her of the expectations he was forced to live with, the pressure that came with it, even his brief foray into thinking smoking pot was a good idea.

As the sun rose in the sky, Gabi couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of contentment wash over her. She felt free, as if a huge weigh off her shoulders was lifted. It was by far the best feeling she had ever experienced in her life.

"We should probably head downstairs," Troy suggested as the sky turned a fiery orange with the sun hanging high in the sky.

Gabriella nodded her assent and began to gather the blanket when a loud _thunk!_ Rang out and the sound of feet on the stairs up to the rooftop garden happened.

A panting Chad appeared on the stairs, hair bouncing and chest heaving.

"Get downstairs, quick!"


	11. To Be Loved By You

**Author's Note: Ok, so…it's been over a year. Again. I'm sure so many of you have forgotten about this story (rightfully so) but I feel genuinely guilty about the fact that I borderline abandoned this story. I've been working on other projects, but it's always been gnawing at me that I haven't finished this, especially when I have all the chapters outlined and drawn out. I finally decided to man up (it's an expression!) and start writing what I should've written years ago. I've been reading a bunch of stories in this verse lately and I've even noticed a few that bear a **_**remarkable**_** resemblance to this story, but I hope you remember that this was the original. The OG. The first. Ish. Basically, what I'm saying is, please read this, and please like it. I tried reading some of the reviews that had been left for this story, but it really hurt so much. I feel incredibly guilty, and I'm going to make it up to you guys. I promise. **

**This one is a pretty long chapter, but I knew what I wanted to include in it, so there you have it. Don't worry - it's not the end!**

**Chapter 11 – To Be Loved By You**

**Disclaimer; Don't own anything**

"Way to make me think we were in trouble, dude." Troy shoved Chad with his shoulder as they folded up the tent side by side.

"People were going to _eventually_ look for you," Chad pointed out. "But we just happened to need help taking down the tent first."

"You guys are dorks," Gabriella commented lightly as she and Taylor took the tent from the two boys and proceeded to fold it up correctly, to make sure it fit in the bag.

"We could've done that."

"Sure," Taylor patted Chad on the cheek. "Of course you could've."

"You ready?" Troy asked Gabi softly as they finished packing everything up.

"Yup." She took a look around the cafeteria at everyone slowly making their way out to the parking lot and didn't bother to hide the sigh. Such a great night, and now it was over.

"There's always next year," Troy told her as they walked out with the rest of the group.

"If I'm here next year," she said softly, finally saying what was truly bothering her.

"I thought your mom said you were here until you graduate?"

"She says a lot of things, Troy. I'm just worried that maybe I won't get to do this next year."

"Let's just take it one day at a time, ok, Gabi?"

"You're right." She leaned against the driver's side door of her new Focus and gave him her best smile. She wanted to cherish this moment forever, not remember it with the fact that lingering doubts were plaguing her.

"Here," Troy shoved his backpack at Chad who just happened to be walking by, his own backpack as well as the tent bag.

"Oof!" He staggered, but only shot Troy mere glares versus saying something.

"So," Troy swept his hair out of his eyes and leaned one hand on the car next to Gabi, his other rubbing the back of his neck.

"So…"

"Last night was pretty great," Troy confessed self-consciously.

"Yeah. It was."

"I didn't in a million years think that you would ever have gone to the New Years Eve Party with me in September."

"Me neither," Gabi laughed. "But I can't say that I'm not happy I am."

"Me neither," Troy echoed, then laughed nervously. "It's been a good 4 months."

"Yyyyyyeah," Gabi's attention was diverted to the scene surrounding them. Sharpay on Zeke's back, piggyback style, with Chad and Taylor wrapped up in their own little world next to the truck. Troy was right. It _has_ been a good four months.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Troy asked, curious about her silence.

"These past 4 months haven't been good, Troy." She managed to maintain a straight face, despite the solemn look on Troy's face. "They've been _perfect_. I don't know if I ever thought this would be my life, not in a million years. I'm just…blissful."

She grinned happily up at Troy, allowing him to capture her lips in a sweet kiss.

"Now if we only didn't have to go to school in a few days…" Gabi said this purely for Troy's benefit: she actually enjoyed school, and was looking forward to the spring semester curriculum.

"And the talent show, don't forget about that," Troy mentioned, a pensive look on his face.

"I know. We're royally screwed for that, I think."

"I don't know…you don't think maybe we were on to something, do you?"

"You mean with the singing thing?" Gabi bit her lip, mulling it over.

"Sure, I mean…it's not the most original thing, but we didn't really suck, and I think we could pull it off, sort of."

"Sort of?" She was about to burst out laughing. 'Sort of' was not what it took to get up in front of her entire high school and sing her heart out.

"Think about it?" Troy asked as he backed away from her to Chad's beckoning. "Promise me you'll think about it."

"I promise," she told him with a grin. She climbed into her car with Taylor and laughed aloud as Chad and Troy drove past them with the windows down.

"Think about it!" Troy yelled at her.

And think about it she did.

* * *

In only a few short days, school was back in session, and while Gabriella and Troy hadn't discussed singing in the talent show again, she kept her promise to think about it. Her mom was due to return that evening after school, and as angry as she was with her mom, she sort of wished she were there to discuss this with. On the one hand, singing in front of everyone was just…a terrifying notion. But, at the same time, Gabi acknowledged that it was something that the old Gabi would _never_ do. She wasn't that person anymore. She wasn't the old Gabi, she was the new and improved one. She was determined to not let anything hold her back, especially now that she felt like she was making a lot of progress with her life.

"Looks like you made quite the entrance, Miss Montez." Troy snuck up behind her at her locker and snuck a kiss on her cheek. "Someone just asked me where you got your Rolls Royce."

Gabi had to laugh at the ridiculousness of high school rumors, when a kid from her Physics kid passed by.

"Hey, nice Mercedes, Gabs!"

She let out a weak smile and waved at him, looking at Troy incredulously.

"Are they serious? It's a Ford Focus!"

"It's shiny and black, Gabs. Unfortunately, that's all the students of East High see. It's a travesty, really, the idea of someone confusing a Ford with a Mercedes…"

"Yeah, yeah, _that's_ the travesty of this. People not knowing the difference car brands." She rolled her eyes at him as she took the last of her notebooks out and started walking with him to homeroom.

They walked quietly for a while, content to just be together, when Troy gave her a sideways look as they approached the door to class.

"So, have you given any thought to my talent show idea?"

"Have _you_?" She countered.

Their conversation was cut short as they took their seats and were pounced on by Chad and Taylor.

"We're so sorry!" Taylor started out with.

"Huh?" Gabi had never seen Taylor so serious before.

"You guys can't be mad at us," Chad insisted. "We had to."

"Had to what?" Troy was almost as confused as Gabriella – slightly less so, since he was used to Chad's antics.

"Well you see, once upon a time there were four people, let's call them friends, and they all decided to-"

"We found something to do for the talent show," Taylor interrupted, sensing Chad's impending epic tale.

"I was getting to that."

"Sure you were, sweetie."

"Wait, you guys found something to do for the talent show? Like, without us?" Gabi put on her best hurt face. "Even though we were going to find something for us all to do? And you…I guess, didn't want to do that?" Troy could've sworn he saw a bit of a trembling lip going on there, too.

Taylor looked absolutely flummoxed at her friend's emotional response, combined with the immense guilt she felt surging through her too. She tossed a pleading look to Chad to help her out.

"Well, no, it wasn't like that Gabs, you see, um…" Chad looked just as guilty as Taylor and at a loss for what to say to Gabriella.

Gabi got over it shortly, as she shrugged and turned to Troy.

"I guess we don't really have much of a choice except to do your idea!" She told him brightly. He let out a hearty laugh at the look of shock that crossed both Taylor's and Chad's faces.

"Yeah, I guess so. Bummer."

"Gabriella Montez, you had me so worried!" Taylor smacked her arm playfully. "I was just convinced that we had crushed your dreams!"

"Maybe I should do a dramatic scene for the show then?" She teased as she flipped through her day planner.

"Well, what are you guys going to do? Is it together?"

"What are _you guys_ doing?" Gabriella asked curiously. Chad and Troy were currently engrossed in a playbook and didn't seem to care for anything they were discussing.

"Stage hands," Taylor grimaced. "The Harper twins are doing this strange ventriloquist act…I don't even know. But they need people to do the lights and wouldn't you know it, Chad and I were available!"

"Do you guys even know how to work the lights?"

"Well, no, but they don't know that! This is one of the few things that require absolutely no stage time and we still get credit for participation. Talk about a huge relief!"

Gabi smiled indulgently at her OCD friend.

"I know how hard it must have been for you to wait this long before deciding on something to do, Tay."

"There are only like, three weeks away! Other people have had all Christmas break to practice their routines or whatever. Or at least feel a sense of ease about _knowing_ what they were going to do. Whoever's plan it was to 'not think about it' until after break _clearly _did not take my anxiety into account."

Gabriella just stuck her thumb towards Taylor's boyfriend instead of responding. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Taylor smack him upside the head and had to smile to herself. She loved her friends.

* * *

"So?"

It was lunchtime when Troy finally cornered Gabriella about the talent show. She wasn't avoiding it per se, she just wanted to make sure her decision was the right one, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to do that with Troy looking at her with his baby blue eyes.

"La."

"Huh?"

"Ti, Do." At Troy's still confused look, she continued with a giggle. "The scale, Troy. Solfeggio. Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. For singing."

"Ah, right, of course."

"You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?"

"Nope, not really, but singing is good. Does that mean you and I are gonna duet? Gonna do a duet? Do it duet?" He wiggle d his eyebrows at his own lame puns and nudged Gabi, goading her into laughter.

"Yes. I mean, I think we can pull it off. Do you?"

"I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't think we could do it, Gabs."

"I somehow doubt it would be possible for you to humiliate yourself, Wildcat. Everyone here loves you." She didn't say this with contempt, but rather just as an observation. It was true: everyone at East High did look up to Troy, in sports and in regular life.

"Look around, Gabs. Everyone here loves you, too."

She let out a little derisive snort at that.

"Troy, I have like, 6 friends. Maybe more if you count Sharpay. Does she count?"

"Sure she counts. Her definition of friendship might be a little different compared to ours, but she counts. And that's not what I'm talking about."

"What are you talking about?" Gabi asked innocently as she ate her lunch. She didn't want to make Troy mad, but she genuinely didn't understand what he was saying.

"You're smart, your beautiful, and you are nice to absolutely everyone." As he said this, Mallory Dutton sauntered past with her lemmings, muttering 'bitch' under her breath. "Almost everyone. I think people are a little intimidated by you, but…a lot of people at East High like you."

"Really?"

"To the point where I might have started issuing threats to some of the guys on the team if they kept talking about taking my girlfriend out on a date."

"…Girlfriend?" Gabi asked quietly, her face as red as it could get. It wasn't that she was opposed to the idea; it was just that they hadn't put a label on themselves yet. She wasn't sure when it got to the point where they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Well, I mean…yes? Or no? I just…I don't know, what do you think we are?" It was absolutely adorable to see Troy get all flustered and embarrassed. Gabi felt herself fall for him a little bit more.

"I would love to be your girlfriend, Troy," she managed to get out. He simply beamed at her and grabbed her hand, squeezing gently. She felt herself float to a place higher than Cloud 9…she was suddenly very aware of what all that hype about love was about. This feeling she had, right here, right now, was just…insurmountable.

"My girlfriend that sings cheesy duets with me in the talent show, right?" Troy asked as they got up when the bell rang.

"I must _really_ like you for me to be doing this," she pointed out happily. At that moment, she felt like she could sing in a sold out arena in front of thousands. She felt untouchable.

* * *

"So, Miss Montez, what's it like to be dating East High's 'Golden Boy?' Do you feel the urge to break out into a cheer at any point in time?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes as a makeshift microphone – in the shape of a ladle – was shoved in her face as she found her seat in Home Ec. Taylor looked absolutely beside herself with excitement and even Kelsi seemed to be brimming with happiness. Gabi could only imagine what she looked like right then.

"Chad?" She questioned the goofball in front of her.

"Chad," Taylor confirmed as she tucked the ladle back into the drawer in front of her.

"And Troy told me that you guys are going to sing in the talent show! I have the _perfect_ song that you guys can sing that I composed myself, it's just perfect."

"Sounds…great?" Gabriella was in such a good mood that she couldn't even let the idea of singing in front of the entire student body bring her down. And as the first day of a new semester, she was even more thrilled to have her last period of the day be with her friends in what is supposed to be a cakewalk class – Taylor and Kelsi had even already taken it, but were allowed to take it again due to the ever changing curriculum.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if they weren't the only ones who thought having Home Ec last period would be a great idea – Mallory Dutton and company came flouncing in, laughing lightly as if they were in some sort of blockbuster movie. Gabi could practically feel the majority of the class roll their eyes as the four girls tossed their hair in unison.

Gabriella felt her stomach drop as the girls stopped at her table with Taylor and Kelsi. She prayed against all hope that Mallory wouldn't ruin her good mood.

"Hey, Montez." A sickeningly sweet smile was plastered on Mallory's face and to Gabi, that was worse than the scowl she usually wore directed towards her. Not eliciting a response from her, Mallory continued. "So, I heard you and Troy are like, official now, or something."

"Or something."

"Well, I hope we can be friends then! You know, the cheerleaders always have such great after parties for the games, and it'd be really great if you could come and support your _boyfriend_."

"How…nice of you," she responded noncommittally.

"Well, yeah, I mean, we shouldn't let little petty things get in the way of us being friends, should we? I promise, it won't even be awkward with everyone knowing that I used to hook up with Troy at those parties."

Not even flinching, Gabi just smiled benignly at Mallory.

"Well, that's good then. I was worried it'd be awkward due to the fact that you're a bitch."

Taylor suddenly erupted in a cough that sounded suspiciously like laughter and Kelsi couldn't seem to formulate any sort of response. Gabi herself was in a state of shock; she couldn't believe she had just done that. Said that. Felt that confident. It was…overwhelming.

The fake smile that had been pasted all over Mallory's face vanished and in it's place was the sneer that Gabriella was familiar with.

"I'd watch what you say, Montez. Just because Troy Bolton seems to like you for reasons beyond my knowledge doesn't mean that anyone else does." She tossed her a wink, then with a toss of hair, stalked off with her floozies in tow.

"Don't worry Gabs, 'Beyond her knowledge' is pretty much everything; I've seen her report card." Taylor gave a fake shudder. "Yeesh."

Gabriella still didn't let Mallory's threat, if it could even be called that, get to her. She was in a great mood despite anything the world could throw at her.

"Room for one more?" Before they could even give her a response, Sharpay practically threw all of her stuff onto the table they were occupying. "Of course there is! There's always room for me."

"Sharpay? _You're_ in Home Ec?" Taylor could hardly believe her eyes, but that could have been the hundreds of shiny beads reflecting off Sharpay's pink vest.

"Don't you have like, chefs?" Kelsi had been making an effort to get along with Sharpay for Ryan's sake, but the girl still grated on her nerves.

"Of course I do!"

"Then _why_ would you take a cooking class?"

"I _think_ I know why," Gabriella interjected before Sharpay could answer. All attention was suddenly directed towards the door and Kelsi and Taylor's groan could be heard even over the chatter of the classroom.

"Zeke is teaching this? How did we not know this?"

"He's just the TA, Taylor, take a chill pill. But he did say that the teacher pretty much lets him run the show. Doesn't he look great in that apron?"

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that," Gabi joked.

"You'd be rich if you hung out with Sharpay," Kelsi muttered darkly.

As far as Home Ec went, it was pretty standard for everyone involved, except for the excessive drooling on Sharpay's part. But when Taylor and Kelsi turned to Gabriella after class to discuss the sheer ridiculousness of Sharpay's bedazzled apron she had made, she was no where to be found.

* * *

"Gabi, there you are!" Troy caught up with Gabriella as she exited Ms. Darbus's homeroom, heading towards her locker.

"Hey Wildcat!"

"What were you doing with Ms. Darbus?"

"Oh! Um, I was just signing us up for the Talent Show!"

Troy gave her a strange look.

"But I already did that last period," he pointed out.

"Right! You did. Which is why she told me that you…did…that. You did. So, no need for me to be in there. All done!" Gabi gave up on her pathetic ramblings and decided to switch gears. "So, where are you going?"

If Troy was confused by her, he made no mention of it.

"Oh, I was looking for you! Kelsi brought some copies of the Talent Show song she wrote. I looked it over and it doesn't look too bad…it could probably be fun."

"Great! I just have to stop by my locker real fast and then we can go check it out."

With an over embellished bow, Troy made a grand sweeping gesture with his arm.

"After you, my lady!"

With a giggle and a grin, the pair were off.

* * *

The next few weeks progressed as such, with more weird behavior on Gabriella's part. She would stay for practices with Troy and Kelsi, but as soon as Troy would leave for basketball practice, she would disappear to places unknown. Troy was genuinely baffled, and if things hadn't been progressing so great with her, he would've been worried. But things between them had been better than ever; she would routinely eat dinner at his house and they had a standing Saturday night date.

"You nervous?" Troy asked her as they left homeroom Friday morning. The morning of the Talent Show.

"I'm…something. I'm not sure what I am. What about you?"

"I don't know…I'm not sure if nervous is the word I'd use either. But then again, it's not the same feeling that I get before a big game. Maybe it's something different all together."

"I know what you mean. I just keep wondering if it will all go to plan…"

"Plan? I think we'll be okay, Gabs. I mean, we have Kelsi with the music and some random dude that is getting Talent Show credit do the lights, I mean…what could go wrong?"

"Lights! I'm so dumb!" Gabriella smacked a hand to her forehead and stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's just lights, and it's taken care of. Don't worry about it."

"No, you're right, I just – I have to go check something."

"Gabi?"

She started to walk backwards, away from him.

"It's nothing, I promise. I'll see you at lunch!"

Troy didn't respond, he just stood, slightly hurt that his girlfriend was obviously hiding something from him. Seeing this, Gabriella stopped her trek backwards and walked back up to him, cupping his face with her hands.

"I promise you, that once this whole Talent Show mess is over, things will be back to normal."

"Normal?" Troy questioned, a weak grin on his face.

Gabi shrugged with a small smile.

"As normal as they get around here anyway. I promise."

"I trust you."

"Good." And in a rare burst of self confidence that was becoming less rare as of late, Gabriella leaned up and kissed Troy gently before scampering away. "See you at lunch!" She called back haphazardly.

After standing there for what felt like a few seconds, Troy realized he was alone in the hall and the warning bell was ringing in his ears.

"That girl is going to be the death of me," he muttered softly as he jogged to first period, praying he wasn't too late.

* * *

"I can't tell you."

"You want me to help you choose out an outfit for tonight, but you won't tell me why."

Gabriella looked at Taylor with pleading eyes and she knew she would help her friend out, despite her secrets.

"Haven't you and Troy already decided on outfits?"

"This isn't for that. Please, Tay…"

"Fine, fine, but you owe me."

"I _always_ owe you."

"…This is true." The two lapsed into giggles and continued to flip through Gabriella's clothes, searching for the ideal outfit, even if only one of them knew why.

* * *

_You can do this_, Gabriella told herself for what had to be the fiftieth time in the span of a minute. _Don't think about anyone else except yourself and Troy. You can do this._

"I can't do this," she moaned to Troy who appeared next to her, grasping her hand tightly. He opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Ms. Darbus's voice booming over the loudspeaker.

"_And now ladies and gentlemen, Caroline Dupree, who will be dancing to Swan Lake."_

"We're next, Troy!" A look of pure panic flashed across Gabi's face and Troy was at a loss for how to help her. She had seemed so confident when the show had started, but as it progressed, she became more and more nervous.

They were the last to go on before intermission and Troy was sure that this was as good a time as any. Now he found himself wishing that he had pushed for an earlier time slot.

"What's wrong, Gabs? You were okay an hour ago…tell me what's up."

"It's just…" she struggled with words for a minute. She had so many feelings coursing through her body that she couldn't get her head around what was making her feel the most nervous.

"What is it?" He lifted her chin so that she would meet his eyes. "Tell me, and I'll try to fix it."

His soothing voice comforted her to a degree and she finally spoke the words that she hadn't even realized were bothering her the most.

"She's not here." Troy looked confused for about a second before realization dawned in his eyes. "She said she'd be here and she's not. She knew how important tonight was for me and she didn't come."

Things with Gabriella and Maria Montez had still been strained lately, but Gabi was at least making an effort with the invitation to the Talent Show. She had really wanted her mom to come, despite whatever differences they had. She wanted to show her what she was capable of, what she had accomplished. And she hadn't shown.

An idea sparked in Troy's head and he tugged her hand, leading her to the side of the stage.

"She's not here, Troy, I've already looked a zillion times," Gabi whispered as they drew closer to the stage.

"Here," Troy pointed to the audience who was currently engrossed in the ballet performance on stage. "What do you see?"

"I see everyone's families. Everyone's except mine." Gabriella didn't usually feel defeated, at least not lately, but at that moment, she just felt like the world had beaten her. She wanted to be happy and the world just couldn't let her. _It's not fair_, she thought petulantly.

"That's not what I see." Troy slipped behind her, his hand on her waist and put his mouth close to her ear. "Want to know what I see?"

Gabriella could only nod, not sure where her boyfriend was going with this.

"I see countless people who love you. You see my family? Well, I see _yours_. Your family is in every single one of those people sitting out there. My dad rescheduled basketball practices so that I could do this because it would make _you _happy. You have him wrapped around your finger, Montez, you don't even know. And you have Taylor's mom, who has adopted you as one of her own. You have all of your friends who would do anything for you. You have me, whether you want me or not."

Gabi let out a little huff of laughter at that. Like she would ever _not_ want him. Just his presence behind her was enough to make her lose her mind a little bit.

"And you see that, right there?" She followed to where Troy was pointing and she felt her eyes water with unshed tears.

Lucille Bolton sat in the third row center, her husband at her side (head back and eyes closed, mind you – Gabi figured ballet just wasn't his thing) and she was smiling at Gabriella. She gave a little wave and mouthed '_Good luck!'_ eliciting a smile from both her son and the girl she now considered family.

"I see a person that sees you as a daughter, regardless of blood. She cares about you just like a mother should, Gabs, and I know she's not your own mom but she could help fill that void, just a little bit. Just if you need it, you know?"

Gathering her strength, Gabi turned to Troy, shaking away the few stray tears that had escaped her eyes. Giving him a smile that could light up the entire auditorium, she took his hand and led him away from the side of the stage.

"Let's do this."

* * *

"_And now, ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez performing an original song, written and composed by Kelsi Nealson."_

"Remember, it's just you and me, babygirl. Just you and me," Troy muttered as they took their places on stage.

With one last look at Troy, at Kelsi, and at her entire family in the crowd, Gabriella felt an odd sense of confidence. She could do this.

_"We're soarin', flyin', there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach." _Troy's silky smooth voice echoed over to her and she did it. She took the plunge.

"_If we're trying, so we're breaking free."_

Troy came up behind her as rehearsed and gave her a little twirl, effectively loosening her up.

_"You know the world can see us in a way that's different than who we are…"_

_ "Creating space between us,"_ she spun away from him dizzily, _"Until we're separate hearts." _Troy quickly came up from out of no where and caught her before she could actually fall, singing with her.

_ "But you're faith, it give me strength, strength to believe…"_

Gabriella almost laughed aloud as Troy was clearly putting on a show for her benefit – although she did entertain the thought that maybe he loved the dramatic aspect of performing more than he let on – as he belted out the lyrics as loud as he could.

"_We're breakin' free!"_

_ "We're soaring, flying, there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach." _Troy had the biggest grin on his face as he sang to Gabriella.

"_If we're trying- yeah, we're breaking free."_

Gabriella felt the music take over as she danced freely as the song sped up, untying the crop top sweater she had over the dark blue sundress she wore. She was grateful, for this one time, that Sharpay had dressed her so well. Her, along with Troy's khakis and dark blue button down, made them quite the pair to look at. She tried to ignore the various yells from the audience as she revealed her spaghetti strap dress (although she was certain that the catcall was from Chad, thankfully).

_"Can you feel it building? Like a wave the ocean just can't control."_

_ "Connected by a feeling, ooh in our very souls_," Gabi sang back to Troy, loving the way it felt like they were the only two in the auditorium. And as the song continued, she knew that it would feel like this every time they were on stage together. She just knew.

They danced around the stage, some of it choreographed, some of it not, and Gabriella felt herself having the time of her life. From the look that was on Troy's face, he was enjoying himself too, which meant a lot to Gabi for some reason.

Soon enough, she realized the song was over and the crowd was on it's feet, clapping emphatically for them. For her. For Troy. For what they just did. It about bowled her over.

* * *

"You were so great! Good job, Gabriella!" Another nameless stranger called out as Gabi sipped on her soft drink in the cafeteria with the others.

"Thank you!" She called out to whoever had just tossed the compliment to her. Her and Troy had managed to finally make it to their friends in the caf during intermission, fighting the throngs of people and well-wishers.

"Gosh, you'd think that I wasn't even up there," Troy teased Gabi as she got another compliment from some underclassmen.

"Listen here, _playmaker_, you're the captain of the basketball team and East High's Golden Boy. I feel like the majority of the student body believes you can lay golden eggs – singing is probably no surprise to them. They just assume you can do everything!"

"It's a surprise to us!" Jack Bolton clapped his son on the shoulder as him and Lucille greeted the Wildcats. Lucy enveloped Gabriella into a warm hug, congratulating her quietly before pulling away and giving a stern look to her son.

"Troy Bolton, next time you decide to be as secretive with something as you were with this, I won't stand for it."

"Huh?"

"Well you seen, son, you wouldn't let us hear you practicing or let us know too many details about the song, you see…" Jack Bolton ran a hand over his neck, a trait that Gabi had seen far too many times on the younger Bolton man.

"You thought I sucked!" Troy accused.

"Not 'sucked,' honey, just, well, we thought maybe you weren't prepared for an audience…" His mom looked just as uncomfortable as her husband.

"You thought I sucked!" He reiterated. Although he was trying to be serious, Troy couldn't help the smile that was tugging at his lips.

"I didn't say that!"

"Your mother might not have, but _I_ thought you sucked," Mr. Bolton said with a wry smile. "Glad you proved us wrong with that performance." He started to scan the crowd. "Anyone seen Matsui? Ah, there he is…I'm just going to…"

He started to walk away before turning back to the group.

"Oh, and Gabriella – you were magical up there. I'm glad you were able to make my son look as good as he did."

She blushed under his praise but beamed back happily. Troy was right – this _was_ her family.

"You guys hanging around for the second half?" Chad asked as he shoved another cookie in his mouth.

"Yes!" Gabriella said instantly.

Troy gave her an odd look at her insistence, but nodded along.

"We have to – all the _active_ participants get called up to the stage at the end for the prizes or whatever."

"Right," Gabi agreed. "The judging."

"Whoa, stop right there." Chad held out a hand to Troy, looking distraught. "You mean that just because I wasn't _on stage_ means I can't win first place?"

"You did lights, bro!"

"They were the best damn lights you've ever seen though, am I right?"

"You got the spotlight on them like, 40% of the time."

"40% of the time _every_ time!"

As the boys continued their debate, Taylor, Gabi and Mrs. Bolton all shared a knowing smile.

_Boys_.

* * *

"Think we'll win?" Troy whispered in the dark as they watched yet another sub-par performance, the definite downside to forced participation.

"Troy!" Gabriella slapped his chest with the back of her hand, not even daring to think about such things. "Do you even _want_ to win? I mean, we didn't really do this under the impression that we'd win…"

He shrugged, mulling it over.

"I don't really care who wins, you're right, but admit it…it'd be neat."

She laughed quietly, but still not allowing the idea to fester.

"You know who I don't want to win?" Chad leaned over both Taylor and Troy to get into the conversation. "Dutton. I heard they're doing that Christmas dance from Mean Girls."

The two girls couldn't help their sniggers. Oh, that would be _good_.

"Where'd you hear that?" Troy asked, hoping that the source was reliable.

"Well-"

Chad was cut off quickly when an old woman who had to have been pressing 110 turned around and pressed a finger to her lips.

"Shh!" She admonished them, her beady eyes intimidating all of the Wildcats to sit back in their chairs. They all shared an amused look out of the corner of their eyes, but none dared to talk again.

"Look, it says that they go on last, before the judging ceremony," Troy pointed out in between acts. "Only one more performance and then theirs. Hey, you okay Gabi? Are you hot?"

Gabriella was suddenly feeling all of the nerves that she had felt before come rushing back to her, full force. Was she okay? Maybe. Maybe not. She was sweating and dizzy and had to force herself to take deep breaths just to remain calm.

"Yeah, I'm fine – a little hot, but it's fine," she reassured him, trying to reassure _herself_.

They watched the next act together – or rather, Troy watched, as Gabriella tried not to fidget in her seat. As the dramatic scene from Oedipus wrapped up, Gabriella gathered her purse and smiled at her boyfriend. _I can do this_.

"Going somewhere?" Troy asked as his girlfriend stood.

"I'm just going to run to the bathroom – I want to really enjoy Mallory's performance," she lied.

"Want me to go with?" Taylor offered, already looking for her purse.

"No! I mean, no, that's okay," she hurried on at Taylor's taken aback look. "I'll just be two seconds and I, um, well, I want to call my mom."

The group nodded sympathetically at her and Taylor relaxed back in her seat, allowing Gabi to let out a sigh of relief as she turned and walked away.

When she didn't return shortly after and it looked like the next act was going to start, Troy started to get up.

"I'm gonna go find her, guys – she really wouldn't want to miss this."

The old lady that had scolded them before turned around once again.

"Sit _down_! The last act is about to go on!"

Troy gave her a wary look and seemed to be judging whether to listen to the old bat or continue to try and get out of the aisle.

"_Down!_" She screeched, drawing the attention of all the parents and students nearby.

"Ok, ok, down I go," Troy muttered, glancing at the door. Where was Gabriella?

* * *

"Are you ready, Miss Montez?" Ms. Darbus asked nicely as Gabi paced back and forth backstage. She could hear the Christmas music playing through the speakers and she knew that it was approaching that time. She didn't have a choice; she _had_ to be ready.

"I…I think I am," she managed to get out.

"Good, good. You'll do great, just remember what I taught you."

"Focus, focus, and more focus."

"Right-o! Do not worry and _have fun_."

The Christmas music died off and once again, Ms. Darbus stepped onstage.

The cheerleaders, led by Mallory Dutton, filed past Gabriella, all of them rolling their eyes.

"Nice outfit, bitch. Did it take long to dumpster dive?" Mallory asked as she passed her. Gabi couldn't even formulate a response. Surely, her outfit of a white dress with blue sash was _modest_ in comparison to the Santa-esque dresses those girls had been wearing. And dumpster diving was a far cry from what Gabriella did. If she had to wager, she'd assume that all the clothes her mother bought her, this dress included, cost more than what Mallory Dutton wore in a week. Not a fact that Gabi bragged about, but still. There were other ways to get under her skin, and she wasn't going to let them have that satisfaction. She was going to be ready for this.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, there is one final act before the judging ceremony, one that is not listed on your programs. If you will please keep your seats, I would like to welcome back to the stage, Gabriella Montez."_

She stepped gingerly out onto the stage and felt the bright lights on her. They seemed shinier and more glaring than they did when she was onstage with Troy. There was a single microphone stand in the center of the stage and she approached it cautiously, overly aware of the audience waiting with bated breath. She could practically feel the confusion rolling off of her friends and family.

"I, um…" Gabriella coughed nervously as she tried to formulate her thoughts into words. She hadn't really thought this part through. She leaned into the microphone more now, trying to get her voice to stretch out through the auditorium. "I just wanted to say thank you. To everyone that has taken the time to get to know me here. So…thank you."

She nodded to the kid on the piano – she hadn't trusted Kelsi to keep her secret, so she was working with a boy that Ms. Darbus had set up for her. He started to play the opening keys and Gabriella knew that it was now or never.

"_How sweet it is to be loved by you,"_ her lilting voice filtered through the speakers and straight into the crowd's hearts. "_How sweet it is to be loved by you._"

The piano wasn't overwhelming and there was no other noise in the entire room save for the sound of her voice and the sparingly tapped keys. This was her, all her.

"_I needed the shelter of someone's arms – and there you were. I needed someone to understand my ups and downs – and there you were_." She infused her voice with as much emotion and soul as she could muster. "_With sweet love and devotion, deeply touching my emotions, I wanna stop: and thank you baby. I just want to stop and thank you baby_."

She took the microphone of the stand and began to sing in earnest as the piano picked up.

"_How sweet it is to be loved by you. How sweet it is to be loved by you_." She tried to search out Troy in the crowd but she found his seat empty, and it was hard to maintain a search whilst singing and having countless lights on you.

"_I close my eyes at night wondering where would I be without you in my life_," she grinned at Taylor, who was still sitting where she had left her, clapping along with the crowd. "_Everything I did was just a bore. Everywhere I went, you know I've been there before. But you brightened up for me all of my days with a love so sweet in so many ways, I wanna stop_ –" the piano player stopped on cue as she sang "_And thank you baby, I just wanna stop – and thank you baby."_

She was starting to really have fun and get into the song. It sounded silly, but she could still feel Troy's presence. She knew that he was still there, still watching her, even if she couldn't see him. That was more than enough of the confidence boost she needed to belt out some impressive notes.

"_Oh, oh – how sweet it is to be loved by you! I said, how sweet it is to be loved by you!"_

She clapped along with the crowd as the piano played a riff, while counting measures in her head until she was supposed to come back in. She couldn't believe how much fun she was having, ignoring the fact that her entire school was watching her sing her heart out.

"_You were better to me than I was to myself, for me there is you and there ain't nobody else, I wanna stop – and thank you baby. I just wanna stop and thank you baby, whoa oh! How sweet it is to be loved by you, how sweet it is to be loved by you."_ She slowed her voice down as the piano slowed drastically. She drew the last line out and let it pour over the crowd like honey. "_How sweet it is…to be loved…by you_."

The crowd erupted. It was like nothing she had ever experienced.

She looked over to the piano player and mouthed 'Thank You' to him, as he had worked just as hard as she had on this performance, without even the ability to tell anyone about it. It was her secret, not his, but he kept it all the same. She truly appreciated that. She gave a little curtsy to the crowd, her smile hurting her face the whole time, and as she turned to leave, she found the path blocked by a tall, warm body. And suddenly, his lips were on hers, moving, and she found herself slipping under and falling harder than she had ever fallen before. Troy finally broke the kiss and sent her a sheepish grin and all she could do was grasp his arm tightly, quite sure that if she tried to walk on her own then her legs would be unable to carry her.

Troy grabbed the microphone and addressed the crowd once more.

"Give it up one more time for the amazing Gabriella Montez!"

She could feel her eyes welling up once more as she met the gazes of her friends and not-quite-blood-related family. Despite her mother not being there and despite all the things in her life that had gone wrong, she couldn't help but feel like she had finally, truly found her home. Her place in life.


End file.
